Poisoned mattresses from China intercepted in Rotterdam port.

[spindoctor]

I got this first hand, so no link I'm afraid.

In the port of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), authorities doing a routine inspection found a container from China carrying mattresses that were saturated with poisonous chemicals, literally off the scale of the detection equipment.
A toxicologist asked for his opinion said that a child sleeping on one of these mattresses for even a single night might suffer serious consequences.

According to the Port Authorities, this is what happens:

Goods from China are shipped on wooden pallets inside containers. These wooden pallets potentially carry "wood-eating beetles" that are common in China. Because of European (and US) rules designed to keep out vermin, the containers are treated with a variety of gasses before they ship out. This gas, intended to kill the bugs, can potentially be absorbed by the cargo, depending on the material. In the above case this led to cargo being contaminated with lethal quantities of chemicals.

[SoCalDem]

1. Here's an idea.. Why not make our own mattresses..near where we live

Seems to me we used to do that :eyes:

That way the chinese won;t have to make stuff that gets GASSED or treated and poisoned in the process..and then we all don;t have to pay the extra cost of disposing of all this toxic shit..

[thunder rising]

6. Didn't you get them memo...Americans don't want to work.

We want to live in a kaleidoscope where credit passes for real money and little brown men mow everybody's lawn

[Eurobabe]

2. I tell you, you want to know why autism in kids is on the rise??

Look no further than what they eat, what they play with and how they live. JMHO.

I get the feeling this is the tip of the iceberg, and we've been being poisoned for decades with shitty goods from China. :mad:

I bought some garlic at the store (in the EU mind you) and while I was cooking, I thought it was from Italy - NO!! It was exported to Italy from fucking CHINA!! Into the trash you go, probably fertilized with human waste or worse.

Jesus F'ing Christ ~~ nowhere is safe from Chinese crap!!! I truly feel sorry for the Chinese people, the need to revolt against their exploiting, corrupt government. And the world needs to STOP trading with them!!

I could explode over this, I thought I was SAFE over here. :nuke: :nuke:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Thank gawd that Walmart only distributes goods made in the USA. n/t

[radfringe]

3. but if we require product safety testing and enforce them

it will cost consumers more... at least that's the bushit we keep being told

and oh yes, can't forget - the "it will hurt our economy" pile of crap

[Selatius]

4. Tell them you'd rather pay a few dollars more than pay several thousand to bury your dead son.

That should shut them up.

[SoCalDem]

5. Here's the thing..

No company really has much to worry about their tainted products, because they are in the company of almost EVERY other company, and the know that lawsuits take a long time.

How does one prove that the illness was caused by any one company, when everything we eat, drink, wear, walk on, breathe contains toxins..

We are poisoning ourselves incrementally, and some of us will not make it ..Perhaps the fundamentalist-loving corporations are conducting a science experiment on us..a big ole Darwin-for-the twenty-first century experiment..survival of the fittest ver 2.1

[Selatius]

7. Well, they can keep doing that, but the rubber band can only stretch so far before it snaps.

When the band snaps, we're going to go up into their towers and drag them out. We'll have an old-fashioned "talk" with these people who made us so miserable, and the "talk" isn't going to be pretty if we reference history books.

[radfringe]

10. how much is it worth to save a couple of pennies

as opposed to paying a couple of thousand for a funeral...

the bottom line is this - paying more at a store is not the reason corporations oppose regulations - they oppose it because it cuts into their profits

how many times have we heard the line "We have an obligation to the stockholders" - that sums it up - it's not about producing a better product, or about cost of testing and ensuring product safety - it's about the dollar

and as far as the market weeding out bad stuff - that's a crock too. by the time we even know there's an unsafe product on the market it's too late for many many many people who may have died or are ill from using it.

nothing will be done until we the people demand that people be put before profits and politics

[Eurobabe]

13. Or have THEM pay a few million to bury a dead child n/t

[spindoctor]

8. Some updates and corrections

The ship has been in the port for 6 months now. The authorities have demanded that the cargo should be destroyed but both the shipping company and the owner of the goods refuse to take responsibility.
It is unknown if there were any more containers like this on the ship or if any others made their way to the stores.

The chemical that was found in the mattresses is EDC (Ethylene dichloride or 1,2-Dichloroethane) also, ironically, known as Dutch Oil.

[NYC]

11. Recommended.

People should be warned. It is the only way we can avoid these dangerous products.

[Vinca]

12. Guess there will be another Chinese "suicide" today. nt

[Bitwit1234]

14. Do you think people are finally going to start to buy OUR products

do you think OUR plants will finally start to produce OUR goods. How many more people are going to be killed or injured before they start to make the manufactures pay.

OUR manufacturing jobs would not have been sent over seas if the greedy S.O.B.'s had not build those plants in foreign countries so they could make more and more and more money.

Maybe the people should pool their own money and do their own manufacturing. I am sure that people would start to buy products that were safe and long lasting. I know most of you are not old enough to remember but I do..We used to have goods and products that did not fall apart, that were not toxic and that lasted and you were not afraid to buy.

The space shuttle is a perfect example. Budget cuts and short cuts have ruined everything. And goodness knows how many short cuts the loud mouth bush loving mine owner in Utah took. I say we should start by not buying any foreign products.