It is time.
First (as far as we know) cats were being sickened and killed by foods from some high-end petfood companies because the contractor they were using to produce their "exclusive" foods was using glutens with a poisonous contaminant. Then small dogs also began to die from the exact contaminant in foods for the exact same contractors.
Then we find out that hogs, poultry, and fish have been fed "pet food bi-products" (can we read that more accurately as "all that recalled cat and dog food"?) and were deemed safe for consumption before entering the marketplace as Peoplefood.* Even after the news broke on this matter, there was no organized or FDA sanctioned recall of the potentially tainted flesh, largely due IMHO to the probability that it had already made it's merry way into the gaping, hungry maws of the masses.
Now we find out that intentionally contaminated glutens are not the only dangerous product to be enthusiastically exported by the Chinese Government. Yes, I did say "Chinese Government." Does anyone truly believe that the rapidly expanding businesses in china are not merely fronts for agencies of the central government? These shells perform the exact same function for the Chinese Government as all those "under the radar" cash only businesses do in this country for the various and sundry criminal syndicates. That function is to Launder the Profits.
But I digress.
"What else," you may ask yourself, "could the Chinese Government export to the world that could be on a par with the willful contamination of livestock destined to be food for humans through the consumption of tainted feed? How could something like this possibly happen again so soon?"
You're going to love this. Or hate it. If nothing else, it should certainly make most reasonable people take a good, hard look at the way corporations and the federal government do business with scoundrels, rogues and UN-Legitimized criminal entities... Like China.
The latest incident happened in Central America, a region of economic hardship where the Haves* have literally everything and the HaveNots* have literally nothing in most cases. It is a land of sublime beauty and harsh cruelty both in nature and in what casually passes for humanity.
In this region, in Panama to be exact, it was found that the toothpaste being sold there (Toothpaste made from ingredients imported from where? Toothpaste made where? China?) contained not the harmless glycerin that you find in countless products, but what amounted to Anti-Freeze. You know the stuff. Dogs like it because it tastes sweet to them, then a short time after licking it up from the pavement where some slob's radiator leaked, the dog's kidneys fail and it dies a pretty horrible death. Yes, that Anti-Freeze. In toothpaste. Pretty vicious stuff to introduce into a food, drug, or cosmetic.
Panamanian (and Australian, and Dominican) government officials have pulled it from the shelves like the dutiful little civil servants they are, issuing statements to calm the potential victims and to convince them that they were never in any real danger. No body actually consumes toothpaste, don't you know? You use a pea-sized globule, brush vigorously with your soft-bristled toothbrush, rinse thoroughly, then spit every little bit of the frothy foam from your newly cleansed oral orifice into your preferred spittle receptacle.
Unless, perhaps, you're a toddler.
Or a pre-schooler.
Or maybe a first-grader who likes the flavor of that kid-friendly toothpaste that Mommy was bullied into buying.
Have you ever watched a small child brush his or her teeth? Huge, artistic, swirling flows of toothpaste settle in pastel mounds on cheerful little toothbrushes. Diminutive hands grasp them tightly before plunging them into eagerly awaiting mouths. Quickly they brush, driven by their need for "Grown-Uppedness" and their enjoyment of the sweet, fruity, minty, bubble-gummy, cotton candy flavor. And it foams. And as it foams, as it slathers around teeth and gums and eager pink tongue, it cannot be resisted. To spit such ecstacy would be a crime, and so...
See what I mean?
Cat food.
Dog food.
Toothpaste.
Cough Syrup (that pesky Anti-Freeze again).
What else has there been? How many incidents have there been that were small enough and insignificant enough that no link was ever made, no odd coincidence ever noted?
There is quite literally no way to know with any certainty, even with modern reporting and tracking techniques, exactly how many incidents there have been or will be. And it is this, in addition to the impunity with which these products are altered and shipped that make it absolutely necessary for the FDA and it's counterparts internationally to embargo all imports of all potential injestibles, food, drug or otherwise, from China. Period.