What GATT hath wrought
Here's what "free trade" has brought us:
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.
Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.
Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.
For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.
And the reason is (drum roll, please):
So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible," said Robert B. Cassidy, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington law firm.
As a result, the United States finds itself "kowtowing to China," Cassidy said, even as that country keeps sending American consumers adulterated and mislabeled foods.
"Free trade" deals have made our economy so ravenously dependent on China, we've willingly thrown away food safety for our own consumers. GATT and its ilk are not the cause of these problems; they're simply the mechanisms allowing such contamination to happen. The root cause, of course, is greed. The almighty dollar supersedes any concern for the general well-being of society or the health of its members. If there's no immediate profit to be made by ensuring public health, then it's of no concern to the importers of tainted goods. Without an inspection and enforcement regime in place, the producers and importers get away (literally) with murder.
Cutting off trade with China, even in something narrow and targeted like foodstuffs, would have an immediate and possibly harsh effect on our economy. But since public health is at stake, I think we should consider banning all Chinese imports of foodstuffs, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and their additives until the problem can be resolved permanently. Our government has allowed this to happen, and they must be held accountable for it. The only reasonable solution is to ban imports from China of anything humans can put in or on their bodies, unless and until an inspection regime can be designed that would guarantee imported products are as safe as those made domestically.
Certain politicians (mostly, but not exclusively, Republicans) have railed against the importation of drugs from Canada based on "safety and quality" concerns. Let's see if they adopt the same pose against China.