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The spate of bad publicity following recalls of tainted pet food ingredients and toxic children's toys has the People's Republic of China worried, CBS' Barry Petersen reported from Tokyo. His camera crew tried to cover the factory that used lead paint on Thomas the Tank Engine but it was turned away--"no surprise. In some parts of China rich factory owners can often keep even official prying eyes out, often by buying them off." Food exports are so valuable--China has 73% of the United States garlic market, for example--that authorities launched a crackdown as "a way of safeguarding hard-won market share." They closed 200 plants processing such foods as candy, crackers, pickles and seafood products, Petersen reported. The problem was their ingredients--"formaldehyde, illegal dyes and industrial wax."
"Prices have climbed to more than $4 a gallon in some parts of the country," ABC's Betsy Stark reported from New Jersey. No she was not at an oil refinery but at a dairy farm, and the liquid in question was white--although petroleum plays a role in the hikes. "Fertilizer is more expensive and so is cow feed now that corn is being turned into ethanol fuel." It is not only the cost of production that is going up, "global demand is growing too" as milk grows more popular in India and China, while global supply shrinks as that drought in Australia puts the squeeze on its global dairy exports.
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