taipeitimes.com/News/front/archi … 2003504090
Great article… It seems that the unnecessary clouding agent in our sports drinks have been supplemented by plasticizer. Why would I want cloudy colored drinks anyway… The article did not list the health hazzards either. That scares me.
[quote=“Taiwan_Student”]http://taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/05/25/2003504090
The article did not list the health hazzards. . . .[/quote]
Here’s a little background from the papers:
[quote]"[P]hthalates," which are used to soften toys made of otherwise rigid PVC plastic, [color=#0040FF]are suspected to cause cancer, kidney damage and disruption of the body’s hormonal and reproductive systems[/color]. EU ministers agreed to ban three phthalates – [color=#0040FF]DEHP[/color], DBP and BBP – from all [color=#0040FF]toys and childcare articles[/color].[/quote]–Taipei Times, September 26,
2004
[quote]Described as “ubiquitous” in the [research] paper, phthalates can be released from plastic bags, toys, or containers for cosmetics.
The researchers found that the [color=#0040FF]higher[/color] the level of DEP and [color=#0000FF]DEHP[/color] metabolites in a pregnant woman, the [color=#0040FF]lower[/color] her level of [color=#0040FF]thyroid[/color] hormones is likely to be.
Previous research has shown that hypothyroidism [color=#0040FF]could lead to preterm birth and low birth weight[/color], as well as [color=#0040FF]impair the post-natal mental development [/color]of infants, [researchers] said.
[According to one study conducted on 76 pregnant Taiwanese women,] [color=#0040FF]Taiwanese[/color] pregnant wom[e]n had DBP levels up to five times higher and [color=#0040FF]DEHP levels up to 13 times higher than women in the US[/color].
One of the reasons Taiwanese women had such high levels [color=#0040FF]might be [/color]the popular practice of putting [color=#0040FF]hot food in plastic bags[/color], Lee [Ching-chang (李俊璋), one of the study’s authors] told the Taipei Times by telephone.[/quote]–Taipei Times, January 8,
2008
[quote]Several local and foreign[color=#0040FF] manufacturers of plastic shoes [/color]sold in Taiwan were yesterday ordered to [color=#0040FF]recall and destroy their products [/color]because of health risks from excessive levels of [color=#0040FF]plasticizers[/color].
Nine of the shoe samples tested by the standards bureau contained[color=#0040FF] DEHP[/color], while another one contained DBP.[/quote]–Taipei Times, October 31,
2009
Ah, i feel reminded of people who run factories that make bombs, ammunition, and such…[/quote]
Well, at least you know what they are. They’re not dressing them up as fruit drinks.
And, please, let’s keep this on topic. The International Politics thread is elsewhere.[/quote]
And sell their poison all over the area… this is spilling across borders:
[quote]The DOH has also informed the health authorities in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines and the United States of the incident, since the DEHP-tainted drinks and food additives may also have been exported to those areas, said Kang Jaw-jou, director-general of the DOH’s Food and Drug Administration. “We have informed the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) of the discovery of DEHP in a legal emulsifier produced by a local food manufacturer,” Kang said.
[/quote]
That factory guy is nuts, a definite psycho. I would kind of get it if he was greedy and he did not understand the consequences, but it’s willful malevolence. Creepy.
This is the kind of boss that stiffs his collectors and employees in Taiwan, takes the loot, sets up a factory in China… and keeps on selling the same caca.
Plus, he’s getting away FREE:
[quote]Food and Drug Administration Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said the Criminal Code needed to be amended to increase the penalty for such violations, which are now punishable by a maximum fine of NT$300,000.
Kang said it would be difficult to indict Yu Sheng Chemical unless there is evidence proving that the contaminated products have damaged the health of consumers.
[/quote] :fume:
OTOH, what people are asking now is who knoew, how much and when:
[quote]China Times:
One of the key points prosecutors are investigating is whether beverage and food processors who have bought emulsifier from Yu Shen Chemical were aware of the contamination of its product.
Food and beverage manufacturers unanimously insisted that they were unwittingly using Yu Shen-supplied additive, but prosecutors said they are still seeking more facts to verify certain points. (May 25, 2011).
[/quote] From CNA
One more article naming names -please note Bifido makes Yakult-like stuff:
[quote]In the meantime, local health authorities in several counties and cities suspect that the products of several big-name manufacturers are also tainted.
These manufacturers include the Tainan-based Taiwan Bifido Foods Inc. (?x?W???), a producer of health foods; S.S.J. (?±???), a Taichung-based company known for its dried melon seeds and other snacks; Chang Gung Biotechnology Corporation Ltd. (???°??§?), a maker of health foods; and Presotea (?A¯??D), which operates a tea house chain.
According to Tsai, these manufacturers have bought raw materials from downstream distributors supplied by Yu Shen Company
[/quote]
chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … orders.htm
I LOVE Passionfruit Green Tea too… Icon - which brands are affected?? I usually go to the Tea Magician drink stands, and I go there quite a lot (there’s on right outside my house). It’s a little worrying, but I couldn’t see anything about it on the FDA links.
That is the problem. The news were saying that a detailed list of specific items will be published later… two weeks -make it two months.
Since it was a wholeseller handing the stuff to distributors, and these went on to chain stores, it is difficult to tell. I think they mentioned 50cc -or 50 soemthing- in one of the channels, dunno about the rest, but it is highly probable most of the drinks bought at stands all over the island have problems, if they have any kind of “fruit juice” that doe snot specifically come from afruit being squeezed/mashed in front of your eyes.
Lemon flavor and passion fruit essence are just some of the examples of tainted concentrates. Those would be used for example in lemon green tea, and that’s how it gets to you.
hence, so far, as the FDA is not naming names yet, it is better to assume all have special enhancements, since most depend on the same distributors, and the damage is so widespread.
Well, for the time being, it won’t kill us to just drink water or freshly squeezed fruit juices until they clean this mess up.
That’s true. Although I feel a bit sorry for anyone who’s been in the habit of drinking this stuff over the last several years – they HAVE been ingesting this carcinogen all this time. I usually drink about a liter of Super Supau every day.
Why did I have to love lemon-flavored drinks? 
The high fructose corn syrup found in so many drinks here has been enough to keep them out of my house but now this.
Not sure how someone could sleep at night knowing they were poisoning children.
The seven I buy my daily intake of liquid at had NONE. Not a single drink exept tea. WTF. I had to drink beer. I hate this 
I make my own lemon-flavored drinks. The ingredients are not hard to imagine, and do not include known carcinogens.
I’m curious as to why all the news refers to DEHP unambiguously as carcinogenic.
Googling around doesn’t seem to support this. In particular, the EU risk assessment report has this to say (page 487):
So, sure, it probably isn’t the best thing in the world to be swallowing by the kilogram, but is all this panic really justified?
There are differerent opinions about that, as you have found out. But the hormone mimicking quality of this stuff is well known and therefore many countries have banned plastic toys that contain it - the effect is especially insidious on not-yet grown-up humans…
People probably have the hunch that this is just the tip of an uncomfortably large iceberg… but there is something better than panicking: switching to eating and drinking natural stuff.
Well, Brendon, the problem is that we are really consuming this plastic by the kilogram, per day, every day, for the last 30 years.
Imagine you have milk tea and toast at a breakfast placed. Both laced. Then at lunch, you have some tea, noodles, and stuff. You gulp down some vitamins. At tea time, a nice roll with jam. All of this is laced with DEHP. So much plastic from so many sources can’t be good.
I had cut on the drink stand stuff and was enjoying home made lemonade and also vinegar drinks. But I have been drinking a bit of sports drinks -mostly Supao, thank God- since I sweat a lot in summer. At work, they mostly carry the smaller Yes drink, which I liked a lot. I am not happy now.
BTW, they keep finding stuff with DEHP dowstream: children’s vitamins, jellies and candies are now on the spotlight.
EDIT:
The paper is full of ads of juice machines. Great investment these days. 
As a parent, I find this totally maddening. We rarely drink anything but water at our house, but it kills me to think that the occasional sport drink, yogurt drink, or fruit juice I have bought my children could lead to cancer or other issues. Just pushes me to intensify my efforts to feed my family foods that are as natural and/or organic as possible. I’m not panicking (can’t do anything about what’s already been done), but I’m not happy about it.
Switching to natural products is of course the way to go, but what can people do about the damage that’s already been done? Nothing. And that’s why some are panicking.
A local celebrity is accusing the DEHP of giving her cancer. Where was it? In a health supplement.
[quote] Huang Chen-chieh, 32, wife of Kaohsiung Councilor Chen Cheng-wen, told the media that she had late-stage colorectal cancer, which may have been caused by taking a laxative drink that was found to contain the carcinogen DEHP.
Huang said she had taken the mild powdered laxative every day for seven years except when she was pregnant to maintain regular bowel movements.
At a news conference, she said she had maintained a healthy lifestyle that included a healthy diet -- no fried or spicy foods -- and had not been taking any medicine or nutritional supplements, except for the laxative.
She said she had been taking the powder -- described as an enzyme by its manufacturer Der Kang Biology Technology Co. -- on the recommendation of a Kaohsiung clinic.
[/quote]
Those of us who work all day find it more convenient to eat outside and hence get more in contact with this and otehr toxic susbtances. The scope is astonishing:
[quote]A total of 167 food ingredient suppliers face recalls due to the snowballing toxic contamination in connection with an emulsifying additive called cloudy agent, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.
So far, the cancer-causing plasticizer DEHP has been detected in the products of 47 local manufacturers of food and drinks that unknowingly used the tainted ingredient, all of which have to be recalled, according to Hsu Ming-neng, deputy director-general of the DOH’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
…
Taiwan is gripped in a food scare after the DOH confirmed on Monday that DEHP had been found in cloudy agent, which is commonly used in fruit jelly, yogurt mix powder, juices and other drinks to keep emulsions well dispersed.
…
Meanwhile, Taiwan Sugar Co. announced Thursday that it is recalling its “Turmeric Oyster Shell” supplement tablets over DEHP contamination.
…
Another victim, HeySong Corp., said it has asked all its distributors to recall its “FruitHouse” probiotic powder and three other brands of dietary supplements that might have been contaminated.
…
Meanwhile, food ingredient exporter Possmei Corp. said it has notified its clients in more than 20 countries to stop selling its concentrated juice products to await test results.
…
Passion fruit juice, mango juice and lychee juice produced by Possmei were on the DEHP contamination-related recall list announced by the New Taipei City Health Bureau on Wednesday.
[/quote]
From CNA
Unbelievable story this. How can someone be so bone-headed to add industrial plasticizer to their product, just to ‘cut costs’ (which is just another way of saying to make more money). He must be aware what his product is used for, and that most of it goes straight into the food chain and down the gullets of small innocent children.
Death penalty please, nice and slow like in the old days, hung drawn and quartered.
Thankfully Supau seems to be have been Ok, our kid has drunk a fair bit of that over the years. Though I’d like to see a statement on the Vitalon website, and I can’t see one…