Reply #3: Strange how all of this was going on for years...and it took the death of [View All]

[candice]

thousands of pets for the media to publicize the problem.

Meanwhile, China has surpassed the U.S. to become the #1 emitter of green house gases. A Congressman has introduced a bill for American taxpayers to help China address its pollution. L.A. air pollution is 25% imported from China, and the mercury that spews from the power plants (ours and the Chinese, who are building two per week) converts to methylmercury when it is absorbed by water and pollutes streams, oceans, and their inhabitants. This is why were shouldn't eat much fish higher on the food chain, the mercury is absorbed into their fat. The Clinton administration was in the process of addressing the reduction of mercury from coal power plants, but then Bu$h Co. got appointed and guess what? Eat your mercury!

Another way to address the inability of our FDA or the Chinese government or importers to verify the safety of imported food or products is to revise our "fair trade" agreements so that pollution controls and product inspection are part of the equation. If that were the case, other than artificially cheap labor and cheap oil to transport goods across the Pacific, then there wouldn't be much advantage in producing as many goods so far away.

If Congress can't make a difference, we can vote with our pocketbook by buying locally and only what we need. That means that less needs to be imported. A lot of the cost of goods is advertisement anyway. Maybe a local tailor could make clothing for less than what one of the fashion brand names sells clothes from abroad.