Here’s something that might lead those in power to finally get serious about this. The president of the National Health Research Institutes said yesterday that DEHP is suspected to be an endocrine disruptor, which could lead to the shrinking in size of the penis and testicles in men.
I was just coming here to post a link to that article. It states that children who drink 350 ml (about 12 oz, or 1.5 cups) of contaminated fluids daily for a year are 6 to 8 times more at risk of developing problems–quite serious problems. That is quite a small amount of liquid, really. I suspect that thousands and thousands of children have been exposed to the levels necessary to cause serious life-long problems. Thankfully, my kids consume nowhere near 350 ml of bottled drinks a day, but I know lots of kids who do (especially those yogurt drinks and sports drinks). And what about the products farther down the food chain–vitamins, jellies, jams, syrups, cakes, etc. How much total exposure are local children receiving through the combination of those? Outrageous. :fume:
Serious, heavy-handed penalties are needed. Immediately.
I wonder how many people knew that this was in our food.
So many products . . . over the course of decades? 
It would be superdedooper if someone found a link to a photo of all the suspect products.
Please, tell me popcorn is safe. 
Its amazing how one man can do so much damage to so many peoples health.
The 茶之魔手 staff have assured me that their stock comes from a different wholesaler and has all been tested and come up clean - should I believe it?
[quote=“Nuit”]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…[/quote]
That’s because they took huge whole page ads on all local newspapers to say they’re OK…
I was just coming here to post a link to that article. It states that children who drink 350 ml (about 12 oz, or 1.5 cups) of contaminated fluids daily for a year are 6 to 8 times more at risk of developing problems–quite serious problems. That is quite a small amount of liquid, really. I suspect that thousands and thousands of children have been exposed to the levels necessary to cause serious life-long problems. Thankfully, my kids consume nowhere near 350 ml of bottled drinks a day, but I know lots of kids who do (especially those yogurt drinks and sports drinks). And what about the products farther down the food chain–vitamins, jellies, jams, syrups, cakes, etc. How much total exposure are local children receiving through the combination of those? Outrageous. :fume:
Serious, heavy-handed penalties are needed. Immediately.[/quote]
Once again, it doesn’t apply only to drinks. People have to press and complain because it is not only one single source of contamination: it’s in yougurts, drinks, candies, etc. It gets to you one way or another. So saying a kid has to drink say, one liter of sports drink to get sick is nonsense, as even if he doesn’t the DEHP is going to be in his food, vitamins, snacks, etc… anyway.
I’m kinda not buying that. What about the companies that put this stuff into their drinks? Obviously they were using the cheapest one they could get, is my guess. Did they stop and think at any point?
Cool, thanks.
@ Tempo, I can’t imagine he was listing DEHP on his product ingredients. Hence why none of the companies he was supplying had any concerns. If the situation was otherwise, then I’ll be doing a lot of this
Now it’s taking a turn for the political -it’s ABien’s fault! as usual- because apparently the boss’s son is a TT reporter and said -or his dad said, did not get that- that 5 years ago there was even more poison in the mix… Plus “whenthe milk scandal happened, they were cursing China, how about us?” -meaning that when they did so, they hurt their feelings, and where were their curses now that it was a “local”. 
One thing I like is that they did put the finger on the worst part of the issue: with other product problems, the boss is taking out apologies on papers and genuflecting/crying in front of the cameras. The boss responsible for the DEHP is unapologetic and defiant. Why? Well, in China they can shoot the people responsible for this. In Taiwan, guy gets away free and the worse they can do is fine him, what, 20K… if he wants to pay, that is. So they guy feels no remorse, can do as he pleases, and gets away scot free. 
And now there’s another chemical in the mix:
Another arrest in new plasticizer find:
chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … arrest.htm
New chemical to watch out for: DINP.
I just skimmed through this thread to this point and didn’t see any master list of the affected products/brands. Is there one available?
[quote=“Nuit”]
Cool, thanks.
@ Tempo, I can’t imagine he was listing DEHP on his product ingredients. Hence why none of the companies he was supplying had any concerns. If the situation was otherwise, then I’ll be doing a lot of this [/quote]
There’s such a thing as due diligence. I won’t be buying any products any further from any brand that used this stuff.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Nuit”]
Cool, thanks.
@ Tempo, I can’t imagine he was listing DEHP on his product ingredients. Hence why none of the companies he was supplying had any concerns. If the situation was otherwise, then I’ll be doing a lot of this [/quote]
There’s such a thing as due diligence. I won’t be buying any products any further from any brand that used this stuff.[/quote]
Yep. Years and years (possibly decades) of buying the very cheapest ingredients, and never checking the quality? For shame.
Something I read today suggested it wasn’t the price of the stuff that was attractive, but rather that it keeps longer than pure palm oil.
The local FDA updates its listing, but it keeps growing. Add children’s cough medicine now.
fda.gov.tw/files/news/0529賓漢香料化學公司供應起雲劑之下游廠商-附表2.pdf
Newest additions include asparagus juice -President brand- , mango juice, pineapple juice, etc…
List of good with problems: fda.gov.tw/files/news/0529產品項目表-附表3.pdf
List of good without: fda.gov.tw/files/news/0529昱伸下游廠商-附表1.pdf
(rememebr chinese doesn’t show on website url)
Labs are working 24/7 checking producst on a “citizen base”, meaning citizens bring it to them for evaluation.
To be honest, it seems this guys had the monopoly of the market for ages, due to the scope and amount of comapnies that bought from them. Furthermore, it took some dilligence to find the weird chemical, “as it has never been used as a food additive before”. That is why they made such a fuss of the fact that a “mother of two” found it.
Actually, we have to bre grateful. The woman was a single lab tech, she could just have been fired and the whole thing covered up, no one the wiser forever… Now, the hard questions start: are these chemicals responsibel for the 200% increase in cancers in Taiwan in the last 20 years?
[quote=“Icon”]Furthermore, it took some dilligence to find the weird chemical, “as it has never been used as a food additive before”. That is why they made such a fuss of the fact that a “mother of two” found it.
Actually, we have to bre grateful. The woman was a single lab tech, she could just have been fired and the whole thing covered up, no one the wiser forever… Now, the hard questions start: are these chemicals responsibel for the 200% increase in cancers in Taiwan in the last 20 years?[/quote]
Both very good points.
(a) The industrialised food chain is now too complex to realistically expect companies with limited technical resources to defend themselves against all possible threats. If we’re going to eat this way, that has to be a governmental (or intergovernmental) responsibility, even if the international politics forum is elsewhere.
It needs continued political pressure too, though. For example, AFAIK trans-fats are still only banned in Holland, despite a lot of evidence of widespread harm from them. Too much money at stake.
(b) A quiet cover-up would be a pretty standard “establshment” response to this kind of thing, and not only in China.
Maybe the psycho-poisoner isn’t too well-connected or is too much of a loose cannon. His statements certainly don’t seem to be very discrete.
[quote=“Icon”]Furthermore, it took some dilligence to find the weird chemical, “as it has never been used as a food additive before”. That is why they made such a fuss of the fact that a “mother of two” found it.
Actually, we have to bre grateful. The woman was a single lab tech, she could just have been fired and the whole thing covered up, no one the wiser forever… Now, the hard questions start: are these chemicals responsibel for the 200% increase in cancers in Taiwan in the last 20 years?[/quote]
This woman deserves a medal. Seriously.
Thanks Icon and Hamletintaiwan for those lists.
Were the tiny little yogurt drinks on this list? My gf would buy this stuff atleast 3 times a month.