Taskforce to check China-made products sought

September 19, 2008

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

Cagayan de Oro City officials are now looking into the possibility of forming a taskforce that will monitor and coordinate with local shops selling imported products to make sure that they are not selling items that are in any way hazardous to the health and safety of city residents.

The move came as a China-made product called “Sanlu” has been found to cause kidney stones in babies and has been recalled from the markets. It has supposedly caused the death of two babies and made some 1,200 others sick.

Committee on Trade and Industry chairperson City Councilor Atty. Ramon Tabor and Committee on Health chairperson Dr. Dante Pajo separately pointed out that the Sanlu incident marks the latest string of tainted products produced in China.

They said in the past two years a number of products have been found to be unsafe and may have now be on the shelves of local stores selling imported items.

“We need to determine whether they have penetrated our local markets immediately,” Tabor told Gold Star Daily yesterday.

Pajo said it is best to now study the creation of a taskforce to be led by Mayor Constantino Jaraula and composed of representatives from different concerned agencies as well as those department stores and small-scale shops selling imported goods.

He said this body will now be able to constantly monitor not just Sanlu milk powder, but also, other products earlier declared to be unsafe are being sold locally among other functions.

“Because, there is a huge possibility that not just Sanlu milk powder may have entered our local market but those that were earlier banned as well,” he said.

Pajo cited how last October 2007, City Hall officials were also alarmed at how a number of candies made in China were blamed for the poisoning of 37 school children in Bantayan , Cebu.

Also, in the same month, he said toys made in China such as the Barbie dolls from Mattel, Inc. were recalled from the local markets for supposedly containing excessive amounts of lead which could cause hazardous lead poisoning.

Pajo who started checking out stores last Tuesday and yesterday was alarmed when he found out that some department stores, which have separate sections for imported good, still display imported products at their grocery sections.

For him such a set-up may make more tainted imported goods readily accessible to the ordinary buyers.

CNN also reported how last November, shipments of the popular toy Aqua Dots were found to have been contaminated with a toxic chemical that turned into a powerful “date rape” drug if swallowed, causing some children who ate the craft toys to vomit and lose consciousness.

And in February, a Maryland candy distributor pulled Pokemon-brand Valentine lollipops from store shelves after bits of metal were found in the sealed treats, authorities said.

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Written by admin · Filed Under Cagayan de Oro