Tell me it’s just my ISP and not a blanket ban… UPDATE: And right after I post its fine. But from 10am to 2:30 pm those were the only sites (besides the usual suspects) unavailable without proxy. Weird.
March 23, 2007
The Discussion: 12 Comments
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1
By Adam in Ma'anshan
it’s your isp. I got this post in bloglines and delicious is up too!
March 23, 2007 @ 3:29 pm | Comment
2
By davesgonechina
oh joy.
March 23, 2007 @ 3:36 pm | Comment
3
By Chris (in Dalian)
I had a similar experience and did a short post about this last week. It seems when you use Tor (maybe other proxies, too) to get to a blocked site, you also have to use it to tag the page with del.icio.us, or the pop-up window will come up blocked, too. It has been working fine for uncensored sites. That’s been my experience, anyway.
March 23, 2007 @ 5:06 pm | Comment
4
By richard
Both are fine here in Beijing.
March 23, 2007 @ 5:16 pm | Comment
5
By nanheyangrouchuan
First, China poisoned South Koreans with bad Kimchii, then China wiped out the pets of hundreds of thousands of chinese families, now China tries to eliminate American pets.
msnbc.msn.com/id/17754681/
Updated: less than 1 minute ago
ALBANY, N.Y. – Rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists said Friday they still don’t know how it got there and predicted more animal deaths would be linked to it.
Also Friday, the company that produced the food expanded its recall to include all 95 brands of the “cuts and gravy” style food, regardless of when they were produced.
The substance in the food was identified as aminopterin, a cancer drug that once was used to induce abortions in the United States and is still used to kill rats in some other countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said.
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The federal government prohibits using aminopterin for killing rodents in the U.S. State officials would not speculate on how the poison got into the pet food, but said no criminal investigations had been launched.
The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. Some pets that ate the recalled brands suffered kidney failure, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.
The company expanded the recall — which initially covered only cans and pouches of food packaged from Dec. 3 through March 6 — after the FDA alerted it that some products remained on store shelves.
There is no risk to pet owners from handling the food, officials said.
The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation into the pet deaths was focused on wheat gluten in the food. The gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but it could have been contaminated, the FDA said.
Bob Rosenberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association, said it would be unusual for the wheat to be tainted.
“It would make no sense to spray a crop itself with rodenticide,” Rosenberg said, adding that grain shippers typically put bait stations around the perimeter of their storage facilities.
Scientists at the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University and at the New York State Food Laboratory tested three cat food samples provided by the manufacturer and found aminopterin in two of them. The two labs are part of a network created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to keep the nation’s animals and food supply safe.
“Any amount of this product is too much in food,” Hooker said.
Highly toxic
Aminopterin is highly toxic in high doses. It inhibits the growth of malignant cells and suppresses the immune system. In dogs and cats, the amount of aminopterin found — 40 parts per million — can cause kidney failure, according to Bruce Akey, director of Cornell’s diagnostic center.
“It’s there in substantial amounts,” Akey said.
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* Recall raises doubts about luxury brands
* List of recalled brands
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Donald Smith, dean of Cornell’s veterinary school, said he expected the number of pet deaths to increase. “Based on what we’ve heard the last couple days, 16 is a low number,” Smith said.
Aminopterin is no longer marketed as a cancer drug, but is still used in research, said Andre Rosowsky, a chemist with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Rosowsky speculated that the substance would not show up in pet food “unless somebody put it there.”
Company doesn’t suspect tampering
Paul Henderson, chief executive of Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods, said the company does not believe the food was tampered with because the recalled food came from two different plants, one in Kansas, one in New Jersey. Menu continues to produce food at the two plants.
The company, already facing lawsuits, said Friday it is testing all the ingredients that go into the food.
“We have a lot of work to do, and we are eager to get back to it,” Henderson said. “This is a highly unusual substance.”
A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was posted on Menu Foods’ Web site. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information: (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
March 24, 2007 @ 6:34 am | Comment
6
By t_co
nhyrc, what does that article have to do with China? I see nth to indicate that the pet food comes from China.
March 24, 2007 @ 11:47 am | Comment
7
By The Admiral
Richard or Raj – Isn’t it about time to say “In the fifth year” instead of fourth year over on the right hand side of the main page?
Cheers.
March 24, 2007 @ 12:30 pm | Comment
8
By THM
@ t_co:
Look Here.
March 24, 2007 @ 2:03 pm | Comment
9
By cat
Nan, perhaps you meant to put your comment in the “Chinese are hypocrites” post above this one. But since the comment is here, I’ll answer here. The pet food investigation is currently focusing on wheat gluten that was reportedly bought from China. That theory might be confirmed… or it might not. And if the gluten really is the source of the poison, it needs to be established exactly where and how the contamination occurred.
It might be wise to wait for the results of that investigation before screaming that “they” are trying to kill us and all of our pets.
Incidentally, it doesn’t take much reading to discover that Menu Foods have been accused of waiting for weeks after they knew the food was toxic before issuing the recall – nine of the cats the company used to taste its food are reported to have died. So where’s your anger about that? But again, we should wait for the results of the investigation and make sure that these reports are actually true before leaping to the first theory that fits our own prejudices.
I’m increasingly amazed by the consistent level of venom you express towards all things Chinese. Where did so much hatred come from?
March 25, 2007 @ 4:15 am | Comment
10
By Raj
Admiral, funnily enough I can only blog – the website itself is beyond my powers! That’s Richard’s exclusive department.
March 25, 2007 @ 4:42 am | Comment
11
By richard
About the site – I have other things on my mind right now. Sorry, I will try to update all the graphics and information soon.
March 25, 2007 @ 12:45 pm | Comment
12
By Sonagi
@Nan,
Next time you want to share a long article, please post an intro and a link. I am already aware of the story and had to scroll down past it to get back to the comment thread.
March 26, 2007 @ 12:32 am | Comment