Western Intelligence Agencies Ban China Lenovo Computers Over Hacking Issues

Britain’s intelligence agencies, including MI6 and MI5, have allegedly banned the use of computers manufactured by Chinese company Lenovo due to concerns that the machines come hardwired with a vulnerability to hacking.

More Than 1 Million China Counterfeit Parts Found in U.S. Weapons

U.S. officials say a problem that has long plagued luxury handbag makers such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton is now afflicting the Pentagon’s high-end weapons systems: cheap Chinese counterfeits.

A months-long congressional probe found at least 1,800 cases of counterfeit electronics in U.S. weapons, with the total number of suspect parts exceeding 1 million.

The results of the investigation, conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee, are to be presented at a hearing Tuesday, where senators plan to grill defense contractors about lapses in monitoring their parts supply chain.

“We cannot allow our national security to depend on electronic scrap salvaged from trash heaps by Chinese counterfeiters,” said committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). He called the report’s findings — based on records from 10 defense contractors and their testers — “just the tip of the iceberg.”

Greenpeace Finds Toxic Chemicals NPE in Top Clothing Brands in China, including Adidas and Li Ning

(Epochtimes)- Traces of toxic and hormone-disrupting chemicals have been found in clothes bearing 14 top manufacturing brands, Greenpeace said in its report released on Tuesday in the Philippines and China, where many of the clothes are made.

Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) were found pervading clothing and fabric-based shoes sold internationally by brands such as Adidas, H&M, and Abercrombie & Fitch. NPE breaks down to form nonylphenol, which interrupts biological endocrine functions and harms the reproductive system.

“Scientific research has shown that NPE have direct correlation with premature puberty,” Zhang Kai, who was in charge of the investigation, told Chinese business daily Changjiang Daily. “Experiments have confirmed that these environmental hormones could induce male fish to transform into female fish.”

China accounts for 85% of fake goods seized in EU

BRUSSELS — European customs intercepted one billion euros worth of counterfeit goods last year, with 85 percent of the fakes originating from China, the European Commission said Thursday.

The figures highlighted the rise of Chinese counterfeit goods, which had accounted for 64 percent of the fake articles seized in the 27-nation European Union in 2009.

China is by far the biggest exporter of such goods in a list that includes India, the source of counterfeit drugs, and Hong Kong, which supplies counterfeit memory cards, as well as Turkey and Thailand.

Chinese prison-made goods enter Canada: report

An Alberta company has been importing products made at a Chinese prison camp, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Laogai Research Foundation.

Canada bans the importation of any goods made by prison labour, but the foundation, which raises public awareness about the Laogai — China’s extensive system of forced-labour prison camps — indicates prison-made goods are turning up in Canada.

Rice noodles prompt latest China food scare

BEIJING — Large amounts of rice noodles made with rotten grain and potentially carcinogenic additives are being sold in south China, state press said Friday, in the country’s latest food safety scare.

Up to 50 factories in south China’s Dongguan city near Hong Kong are producing about 500,000 kilogrammes (1.1 million pounds) of tainted rice noodles a day using stale and mouldy grain, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

High amounts of heavy metals found in China tobacco

(Reuters) – Some Chinese cigarettes contain amounts of lead, arsenic and cadmium that are three times higher than levels found in Canadian cigarettes, a study has found.

While consuming such heavy metals is widely known to be harmful to health, there is little research done so far about their impact when inhaled into the body.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Tobacco Control on Thursday, said more investigation was needed.

China: Sexual prematurity in babies- Dairy Companies Face New Questions

By BRIAN SPEGELE, The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2010 –

BEIJING— Mounting questions about abnormal hormone levels in several Chinese infants who demonstrated early signs of puberty have again put a Chinese milk supplier and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. on the defensive about their products.

The latest issue comes two years after the 2008 milk scandal, in which at least six children died and 300,000 were sickened from milk that contained dangerous levels of melamine, an industrial chemical.

The Chinese company at the center of the latest questions, Nasdaq-listed Synutra International  Inc., insists it isn’t to blame for symptoms of sexual prematurity in babies, including breast growth. On Synutra’s website, it says the company has never added illegal hormones to its milk products, and questions links between its product and the babies’ signs of puberty.

“These claims are highly irresponsible and based on speculation instead of scientific evidence,” said the company’s chairman and chief executive, Liang Zhang. “As a well-known and trusted provider of infant formula in China, we are completely confident that our products are safe and our quality levels are industry leading.”

Earlier this month, parents and doctors in central China’s Hubei province began voicing concern that milk powder from Synutra had caused at least three infant girls to exhibit signs of puberty, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. This week, Ministry of Health officials said they were launching an investigation into the milk powder.

At a news conference on Tuesday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Health said multiple factors could cause sexual prematurity, and experts couldn’t yet determine whether food was a factor, Xinhua reported.

In 2008, Fonterra, one of New Zealand’s largest companies, faced a wave of criticism in the aftermath of the milk scandal. Fonterra owned a large stake in one of the companies at the center of the scandal, the now-defunct Sanlu Group, but has flourished in China following Sanlu’s closing. Synutra recalled some of its products during the melamine scare…….(more details from Wall Stret Journal)

US in huge federal crackdown on alleged luxury fakes from China

AFP, Aug. 4, 2010 –

SAN FRANCISCO — US authorities announced Tuesday the biggest federal crackdown ever on West coast shopowners who allegedly sell counterfeit luxury handbags and other goods worth some 100 million dollars.

Prosecutors said they have charged operators of eight San Francisco shops with selling suspected designer fakes made in China, the US attorney for northern California and US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.

The 25-count indictment is “part of the largest federal enforcement action ever taken against West Coast retailers suspected of selling counterfeit designer apparel and accessories,” they said in a statement.

“To consumers who think designer knockoffs are a harmless way to beat the system and get a great deal, ‘buyer beware,'” said ICE Director John Morton.

“Trademark infringement and intellectual property crime not only cost this country much needed jobs and business revenues, but the illegal importation of substandard products can also pose a serious threat to consumers’ health and safety,” he said.

Authorities revealed the details of the case in an indictment unsealed Monday. The indictment was filed in federal court July 22.

It charged the defendants, mostly residents of San Francisco, with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, and trafficking in counterfeit goods.

“The investigation has led to the seizure of nearly 100 million dollars worth of counterfeit merchandise [based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) had the products been legitimate],” a statement said.

Among the items seized were “clothing, handbags, wallets, jewelry, watches, scarves, sunglasses and shoes that were illegally imported from China,” it said.

The suspected counterfeit items purported to be luxury brands such as Dooney and Bourke, Nike, Coach and Kate Spade, Armani, Burberry, Prada and Louis Vuitton.

“Interdicting and destroying counterfeit and trademark infringing goods has long been a priority of the federal government,” US Attorney Joseph Russoniello said.

“The significant impact of trafficking in such merchandise on the American economy should be obvious.”

– AFP

EU report: 64% of fake goods are from China- a 10% increase

BBC News, 22 July 2010 –

An EU report says 64% of fake or pirated goods seized in the 27-nation bloc last year came from China – a 10% increase on 2008.

Clothing was the biggest category of goods seized at 27%, while the amount of illegal CDs, DVDs and electrical goods seized showed a marked decline.

The economic downturn accounted for a fall in customs interventions.

Black market cigarettes, fake labels and counterfeit medicines were common contraband, the EU says.

There were significant quantities of contraband shampoos, toothpaste, toys, medicines or household appliances that could pose a health hazard, the European Commission report said on Thursday.

In all, customs officials intervened in more than 43,500 cases last year, seizing 118 million articles.

The commission said that in the past luxury goods were the most susceptible to intellectual property right (IPR) infringements, but “more and more items used by citizens in their daily lives are now affected”.

Cigarettes accounted for 19% of the products seized, other tobacco products 16%, labels 13% and medicines 10%.

More than 77% of all detained products were destroyed or a court case was initiated to determine the infringement.

Of the goods seized, 38% were flown into the EU and 34% entered the EU by post.

The main origin of contraband food and drink was Turkey, while for medicines it was the United Arab Emirates and for toys and games it was Egypt.

– BBC News

Two German Business Chiefs Criticize China

By Andrew Willis, via The Business Week, July 19, 2010 –

Two of Germany’s leading industrialists publicly attacked China’s business environment during a meeting with the country’s premier, Wen Jiabao, over the weekend (17 July).

Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of giant chemical company BASF (BASFY), and Peter Löscher, chief executive of industrial conglomerate Siemens (SI), added their voices to a growing clamour of criticism against Chinese rules that are seen as disadvantaging foreign firms.

Mr Hambrecht said foreign companies are frequently forced to transfer business and technological “know-how” to Chinese companies in exchange for market access.

“That does not exactly correspond to our views of a partnership,” he told Mr Wen at the roundtable discussion in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian, according to German journalists who attended the meeting.

The strong statements are particularly noteworthy due to their public nature and delivery during a meeting also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China as part of a four-day state visit.

Mr Löscher voiced widespread complaints about draft Chinese public procurement rules which are intended to support “indigenous innovation,” a policy foreign companies fear could shut them out of lucrative government contracts.

The Siemens boss also called on China to remove investment restrictions in certain sectors, reported German daily Handelsblatt. At present, foreign companies can be required to form joint ventures with Chinese companies when setting up shop in China, as exemplified by the Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive company.

Mr Wen reportedly responded to the criticism by telling Mr Hambrecht to calm down, insisting that China remained committed to opening its economy. “Currently there is an allegation that China’s investment environment is worsening. I think it is untrue,” Mr Wen said.

But the comments from two of Europe’s leading industrialists come on top of a recent survey by the EU’s chamber of commerce in China which showed that foreign executives hold an increasingly gloomy outlook regarding China’s regulatory setup.

The increasing fears of discrimination led the EU chamber’s president Jacques de Boisseson to suggest firms may even consider pulling out of China altogether.

“Nobody should take for granted that European companies will continue investing whatever the business environment,” said Mr De Boisseson.

– The Business Week

BP oil spill: failed safety device on Deepwater Horizon rig was modified in China

Tim Webb, The Observer, Sunday 18 July 2010 –

BP ordered the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, whose explosion led to the worst environmental disaster in US history, to overhaul a crucial piece of the rig’s safety equipment in China, the Observer has learnt. The blow-out preventer – the last line of defence against an out-of-control well – subsequently failed to activate and is at the centre of investigations into what caused the disaster.

Experts say that the practice of having such engineering work carried out in China, rather than the US, saves money and is common in the industry.

This weekend BP remained cautiously optimistic that the cap placed on top of the Gulf of Mexico well on Thursday night would continue to hold back the torrent of oil. It is the first time the flow has been stopped since the accident happened almost three months ago. But BP said that the pressure readings from the Macondo well were not as high as it had hoped, which could indicate that it has ruptured and that oil could be leaking out somewhere else.

There is no evidence that the significant modifications to the blowout preventer (BOP), which were carried out in China in 2005, caused the equipment to fail. But industry lawyers said BP could be made liable for any mistakes that a Chinese subcontractor made carrying out the work. It would be almost impossible to secure damages in China, where international law is barely recognised.

It is understood that lawyers for Cameron International, the manufacturer of the BOP, will argue the device was so significantly modified in China that it no longer resembled the original component, and that Cameron should therefore not be held liable.

Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon, which bought the BOP from Cameron, has already told congressional hearings into the disaster that the modifications were carried out at BP’s request and “under its direction” as the lessee of the rig. BP and Cameron declined to comment this weekend…….(more details from The Guardian)

Products made in China often cost more there than in the West

By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2010-

Reporting from Beijing — The laptop computer Luo Guangli carried out of the Apple flagship store in Beijing was no different from the models sold in the United States. It had the same high-resolution screen, an identical processor and the same printed label on the back: “Assembled in China.”

The only difference — besides a manual written in Chinese — was the price. Luo paid $2,760. That’s about $460, or 20%, more than an American buyer would spend at an Apple store or buying it online.

“It’s a huge expense, but what can I do?” said Luo, a 24-year-old professional photographer who wears glasses with Buddy Holly frames.

The premium prices aren’t limited to foreign-branded computers. Kobe Bryant’s Nike sneakers with the Made in China label go for $165 in the U.S. But at an official Nike store in China? $190. A flat-screen Sony TV assembled by Chinese laborers runs about $800 at a Best Buy store in the U.S. But you’d pay 30% more at the popular Chinese appliance chain Gome. The same goes for that Maclaren Techno XT infant stroller. It’s also manufactured here, but you’ll typically pay 40% more for one at a Beijing mall than you would in the U.S.

It’s a paradox of life here in the world’s factory floor. The place known for delivering low-cost goods to Western consumers doesn’t always do the same for its own people……. (more details from Los Angeles Times)

Foxconn symbolizes China economy’s wider structural problems and industrial unrest (2)

By Craig Stephen, The Market Watch, May 31, 2010 –

<< Previous

(China’s wider problems)

While Shenzhen was set up as China’s first Special Economic Zone thirty years ago, media reports describe Foxconn’s operations there as operating something like an independent kingdom with officialdom rarely regulating it. Given that the company reportedly provides more than 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) in taxes annually to the city’s coffers, it’s understandable if there is a hands-off approach.

Arguably Foxconn symbolizes wider structural problems in China’s economy: It’s unbalanced and overly focused on exports and investment spending, and lacks domestic-led consumption.

At the root of weak consumption is low wages. According to a survey released by the All China Federation of Trade Unionists (ACFTU) last week, almost one-quarter of Chinese employees had not seen a salary rise in the past five years. The workers at Foxconn got a base monthly salary of 950 yuan, which is in line with the minimum wage set by Guangdong government — although a 20% pay rise was announced on Friday.

The low level of wages is also borne out by looking at the make-up of China’s gross domestic product, where the share of company profits is rising and wages shrinking.

According to the ACFTU the proportion of China’s GDP that goes towards wages and salaries has continued to shrink since 1983, having dropped from 65.5% in 1983 to 36.7% in 2005. Meanwhile the proportion of returns on capital in GDP had risen by 20% in the 27 years through 2005.

This may be good news for equity investors in the short run, but it hardly looks like a sustainable model of development.

The Foxconn controversy also came in a week when workers in Honda’s (HMC 30.40, +0.36, +1.21%) (JP:7267 2,764, -6.00, -0.22%) four mainland factories were shut after parts makers went on strike seeking a pay rise, paralyzing the Japanese auto maker’s production.

The risk is that Foxconn is just the tip of the iceberg, and China could be entering a new phase of industrial unrest. Other imbalances in China’s economy, such as feel-bad rising prices of food and housing, are exacerbating tensions.

We should acknowledge not all factories are bad stories. Huawei, China’s largest telecom equipment vendor, is also based in Shenzhen, and is held up as model operator with its impressive, campus-like facilities. Making modern telecom equipment is more sophisticated than assembling mobile phones, of course.

The mainland authorities, manufacturing companies and international brands face a difficult challenge to quell labor unrest and better share the spoils of China’s growth.

Dealing with the cause — better pay and conditions — looks to be a better start than simply asking workers not to jump. (END)

– The Market Watch

Related:
– Foxconn symbolizes China economy’s wider structural problems and industrial unrest (1)

Foxconn symbolizes China economy’s wider structural problems and industrial unrest (1)

By Craig Stephen, The Market Watch, May 31, 2010 –

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — When employees are asked to sign a pledge not to kill themselves (later retracted) and safety nets outside dormitories are erected to prevent suicide jumpers, something is badly wrong.

And this is not a Second World War concentration camp we’re talking about — rather, it’s a factory making some of the coolest brand-name gadgets in the twenty-first century.

The spate of suicides at Foxconn’s  (HK:2038 5.77, -0.08, -1.37%) mammoth industrial complex in Shenzhen, China has everyone looking to attribute blame, from the Taiwanese owner Hon Hai Precision Industry (HNHPF 8.39, -0.11, -1.26%) to the global brands such as Dell (DELL 13.11, +0.02, +0.15%) , Apple (AAPL 261.80, +0.97, +0.37%) and Nokia (NOK 10.10, +0.08, +0.80%) , which outsource their assembly there.

There is plenty of shame to go round. All have gone along with China’s economic model proscribed by the one-party state and the apparent productivity miracle. Economists generally like to describe the unbalanced growth or structural imbalances in China’s economy. Could it be much worse, and is the world’s factory workshop rotten at its core?

When I first visited Shenzhen a good sixteen years ago it was grey and drab with a few cars on the streets. Begging children clamped themselves to my legs to stop me walking.

Today, its population has soared to 17 million and its downtown roads are packed with cars and sport utility vehicles, while its hotels and shopping malls can match anything in Hong Kong.

But if you are a migrant factory worker living in a cramped dormitory, you are likely to have missed this progress. Migrants are locked out from enjoying health, education and housing benefits available to Shenzhen residents.

Foxconn stands out as the largest factory complex, with over 300,000 living and working in a city within a city. I doubt Mercer ranked this destination on its global quality of life index.

China’s wider problems

The dozen worker suicides this year have become a public relations nightmare not just for Foxconn and its clients, but also for the mainland government which sets the rules. Beijing would much rather see the spectacle of its glitzy Shanghai expo in the headlines instead of the international media focusing on the ugly underbelly of its economy.

When former Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping opened up socialist China to capitalism, he tried to juggle the contradictions with a new path, famously saying, “Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious.” He also added: “Let some people get rich first.”

Eighteen years after Deng’s famous South China inspection tour, if he were alive today, he would surely recognize something has gone wrong. (to be cont’d)

– Marketwatch.com

Dark side of China electronic surge: 3 lessons to learn

Leo Lewis, The Australian, May 31, 2010 –

LIKE laws and sausages, consumer electronics have joined the list of things best not to see being made. Behind our shiny iPhone or cutely-packaged Nintendo games console is a process that reeks of exploitation, drudgery and, as we can now see, despair.

The spate of suicides at Foxconn’s plant in Shenzhen has provided an alarming education and raises a perfectly timed red flag over the US-China currency debate. China has been forced to acknowledge that the real story behind its growth figures is, in many cases, a degrading one.

There are three important practical lessons to be drawn from the deaths. The first is places like Foxconn must, sadly, exist if we want cheap electronics.

The punishing hours, the 350,000 employees squeezed into one vast complex, the pseudo-military discipline, the mind-numbing silence of the shop floor, these are all things that we can deplore, but which belong on the conscience of anyone who has ever made a call from a mobile phone, sent an e-mail or snapped a friend on a digital camera. Which is to say, all of us.

The glitzy myth of electronics has also been punctured: Foxconn exists because electronics manufacturing is no longer the work of artisan specialists. This company has done to technology what McDonald’s did to lunch.

The second lesson is that Foxconn represents the China that Beijing would prefer the country not to be. From the outside, the country looks export-led – one of the main reasons that China’s failure to allow its currency to rise against the dollar has drawn so much condemnation in Washington. The reality is rather different, and Foxconn usefully demonstrates why.

Take the 30-gigabyte iPod, one of the many Apple devices that depend on Foxconn. When it first went on sale in the US, it sold in the stores for $US299. It left the factory in China with a value of $150, but only $7.50 of that value was actually created in China. The remainder belonged to the other Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan) where the components were made.

According to analysis by CLSA Securities, globally, workers received $1.06 billion in earnings from iPod-related jobs, or about $25 per iPod sold. Chinese workers received only about 2 per cent of the global pay cheque, or 55c per unit sold. As it looks to its future, China desperately wants to be Apple, not Foxconn.

But the third and most critical lesson of Foxconn is that significant parts of the US rhetoric on China’s currency policy are misguided. The Obama administration is under relentless domestic pressure to “do something” about the undervalued Chinese currency, the yuan, and to prod China into letting it rise. Attention has turned to the timing of Washington’s decision to officially label China a “currency manipulator”, a meaningless slur given that 50 countries around the world peg their currencies to the US dollar.

Beijing, knowing that its economy is primarily driven by domestic investment, is probably keen for the yuan to appreciate but will not allow itself to appear bullied into doing so. But Foxconn kicks away one of the main struts of those angrily demanding that Beijing allow the yuan to rise: many of those manufacturing jobs that China is supposedly stealing from the US are not jobs that Americans could countenance doing themselves.

An attempt to run a plant like Foxconn in the US would be disastrous and that is why the jobs were outsourced there in the first place. Even if the yuan rose by 40 per cent against the dollar, it is hard to imagine mass-market electronics assembly jobs moving back to the US.

The currency scuffle between Washington and Beijing is in a lull, but could flare-up again at any moment: When it does, America must look at Foxconn for a sense of how the trade world really works.

– Via The Australian

Father of China’s toxic milk-powder Children victim on Trial

Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch (Chinese), via The Epochtimes –

The father of one of the victims of China’s toxic milk-powder scandal has been charged with “inciting social upheaval” because he demanded medical help for his child.

Zhao Lianhai, a Beijing resident whose son developed kidney stones after consuming melamine-tainted milk powder, founded a citizen’s group called “Kidney Stone Babies” that advocates for the rights of the victims and their families. Because of his vocal public activism, he has been nicknamed “The Father of Kidney Stone Babies.”

Zhao’s proactive involvement in assisting others who were unhappy with the way the government handled their cases made him a target for investigation by the Daxing District police.

He was arrested and has been held in custody since last November. His first court appearance was on March 30.

The trial, held at the Daxing District Court in Beijing, was closed to the public. Li Xuemei, Zhao’s wife, had asked to attend but was turned down. No verdict was announced at the conclusion of the trial.

During the entire five-hour proceedings, Zhao was kept shackled at the ankles. According to Peng Jian, Zhao’s defense attorney, Zhao was also handcuffed when he was first taken into the courtroom in the morning. Only after Peng protested were the handcuffs removed; the ankle shackles remained.

Zhao pleaded not guilty to the charge of inciting social upheaval. Peng and Zhao’s other defense attorney Mr. Li Fangping told Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch that prosecutors don’t have a case as evidence was collected before Zhao was even charged. In addition, most of the prosecution’s witnesses are policemen, creating an obvious conflict of interest.

The hearing attracted wide attention among Zhao’s supporters and human rights activists. A few dozen supporters waited outside the courtroom during the trial along with several overseas media, including the Associated Press.

Police had cordoned off the area to separate the demonstrators and were using a camera and video camera to keep a record of the demonstrators.

Some supporters held signs that read, “Citizen’s Right to Life,” “Rule of Law,” and “Justice.” Some shouted, “Release Zhao Lianlai, Zhao Lianlai is innocent!”

Some demonstrators asked the police, “Do you have children? Do you have a conscience?”

Zhao’s wife and son were among the supporters, and both of them were weeping……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Tainted China drywall linked to deaths?

Reported by: WPTV staff, Mar. 3, 2010-

WASHINGTON, DC —  Chinese drywall has surfaced again. Now there are several deaths being reported that may be linked to the toxic wallboard. Senator Bill Nelson wants answers and is demanding the feds investigate a possible connection.

There are nine deaths associated with homes that have toxic chinese drywall. The big question, did the tainted wallboard contribute to those deaths? Nelson is demanding an investigation into each case immediately.

“Common sense will tell you if silver is turning black, if AC coils are corroding and if brass is completely disintegrating, if that’s what’s is happening to the home what is it gonna do to your respiratory system>

According to Scripps Howard News Service, five deaths are linked to tainted drywall homes in Louisiana and four here in Florida. The deaths were primarily among elderly and young people with long-standing medical problems.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission maintains there is no scientific link between tainted Chinese drywall and death but it will continue to look into each case to see if drywall played a role.

Louisiana Senator David Vitter is joining the fight for his state along with Nelson putting pressure on the CPSC……. (more details from WPTV)

Italy police raid warehouses with 500,000 tonnes of fake brand name goods made in China

Reuters, Feb. 13, 2010-

ROME (Reuters) – A police raid on a sprawling complex of warehouses in Rome turned up about 500,000 tonnes of Chinese goods including fakes of some of the world’s most famous designer labels, Italian police said on Saturday.

The operation, carried out in the past few days and announced on Saturday, was one of the biggest of its kind in Italy, they said.

The merchandise, which included fakes of big name brands, boxes with designer logos, and toys that did not meet European safety standards, was worth at least 5 million euros.

About 70 police agents took part in the raid on the southern outskirts of the city and found some 37 Chinese citizens, some of whom acted as lookouts, on the premises of the complex of eight warehouses.

“Inside we found an amazing number of boxes of name brand goods subdivided by type. All that was missing were the labels which had yet to be put on,” said police official Maurizio Improta.

Television footage provided by police showed fakes or empty boxes with logos of brands such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Calvin Klein, Roberto Cavalli, Armani Jeans and Puma.

“This is one of the biggest ever hauls of counterfeit goods in Italy,” Improta said.

The goods included clothing, furs and spectacles. The merchandise came from China and police said it was possible the complex of warehouses was used as a distribution point for other Italian and European cities.

– Reuters

Alert: Counterfeit condoms spread out in China and sold in USA

By John M. Glionna, the Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2010-

Reporting from Beijing – Sex shop owner Wang Yunsu wondered how so many competitors could suddenly undercut her low prophylactic prices.

Now she thinks she knows: The other condoms are counterfeit.

“Some manufacturers are cutting corners,” she said, stocking a shelf with a domestic brand whose name translates as Forever Love. “And it’s all about profit.”

It’s China’s latest knockoff scandal — inferior contraceptives that health officials say provide little protection and may in fact spread infectious diseases, tarnishing the axiom that condoms mean safe sex.

In November, investigators in Hunan province provided details about a July raid on an underground workshop where they found laborers lubricating condoms with vegetable oil in unsterile conditions, passing off the counterfeits as high-quality-brand products.

It wasn’t the first such bust. Police in 2008 raided an illicit factory in Zhejiang province, seizing half a million knockoff condoms.

In another case, workers recycled used condoms into hair bands in southern China.

“People could be infected with AIDS, [genital] warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while weaving their hair into plaits or buns,” a dermatologist told the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The practice poses yet another disease threat in the world’s most-populous nation, where more than 2 billion condoms are used each year, supporting an estimated $530-million industry.

China mass-produces countless fake brand-name consumer goods, from shoes and handbags to DVDs and iPods, even beer. But after tainted milk killed six Chinese children and sickened about 300,000 in 2008, the spread of counterfeit condoms further demonstrates that unscrupulous manufacturers will stop at nothing to turn a profit.

Authorities estimate that up to a third of the contraceptives used in some parts of China are counterfeits, despite improvements in state food and drug oversight. None of the counterfeits are properly sterilized, and others are of such inferior quality that they could rupture during use. Authorities say they’re all dangerous.

“The quality of the knockoff condoms cannot be guaranteed, and they can easily break,” said Cheng Feng, director of the group Family Health International, China. “Such condoms definitely cannot play the role of contraception and disease prevention.”

But counterfeit condoms aren’t being sold only in China.

In 2008, officials in the New York area confiscated knockoff Chinese-made goods, including millions of phony Trojan-brand condoms that were sold in small discount stores in New York, Texas and Virginia……(more details from the Los Angeles Times)

US recalls 1.5m baby strollers manufactured in China

AFP via The Straits Times, Singapore, Jan 21, 2010 –

WASHINGTON – THE United States ordered a recall on Wednesday of 1.5 million baby strollers manufactured in China for US company Graco Children’s Products after fingertip amputations suffered by children.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary recall of the Graco’s Passage, Alano and Spree strollers and travel systems manufactured between October 2004 and February 2008.

‘Graco has received seven reports of children placing their fingers in the stroller’s canopy hinge mechanism while the canopy was being opened or closed, resulting in five fingertip amputations and two fingertip lacerations,’ it said in a statement.

‘The hinges on the stroller’s canopy pose a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is opening or closing the canopy.’ The strollers were sold in US retail stores such as Burlington Coat Factory, Babies ‘R’ Us, Toys ‘R’ Us, Kmart, Sears, Target and Walmart.

This is the second major recall in recent months of strollers following reports of fingertip amputations and injuries.

Last November, about a million strollers, manufactured also in China for Britain’s Maclaren were recalled after there were 12 reports of fingertip amputations in the United States. — AFP

– The Straits Times

China Hi-tech Manufactory’s Lost iPhone Tragedy

Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, The Forbes, 07.22.09 –

HONG KONG — The design of the latest, yet unreleased, fourth-generation iPhone is top secret at Apple–one so “priceless” that it claimed the life of a young Chinese engineering graduate who was held responsible for misplacing a prototype.

Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old employee of Foxconn ( FXCNY – news – people ), which manufactures the iPhone for Apple ( AAPL – news – people ), jumped from the twelfth floor of his residential building in Shenzhen at 3:30 a.m. on July 16. Ninety minutes earlier, he sent a text message to a friend, saying his apartment had been searched and that he had been beaten up by senior officials of his company, according to Chinese newspaper Nanfang Daily. The story ran Tuesday alongside a picture of Sun’s last text message, shown on the friend’s phone.

Sun also had an online chat with his former university classmate Gao Ge about three hours before his death. Sun told Gao he was suspected by his company of stealing the latest iPhone prototype. During Foxconn’s internal investigation over the missing iPhone, Sun was illegally detained and physically abused by a security manager surnamed Yuan, and Sun’s apartment raided by three Foxconn employees. Sun described the scrutiny as the most humiliating experience of his life.

Sun’s last online chat was posted on Tianya, a well-known Chinese blog, two days after his death. It roused strong criticism of Foxconn among Chinese Netizens and on the Twittersphere.

According to the blog, Sun worked in Foxconn’s Shenzhen production site, the company’s largest, which employs more than 270,000 workers. Sun’s job involved handling product communications with Foxconn’s clients. On July 9, Sun picked up 16 prototypes of Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone from the assembly line and was responsible for shipping them to Apple. In the next few days, he discovered one of the phones was missing but couldn’t find it at the factory, where he thought he had left it. On July 13, he reported the situation to his supervisor.

Meanwhile, as Apple received one iPhone sample fewer than it requested, the U.S. computer giant suspected its highly confidential latest model, which has yet to launch, was leaked out by Foxconn. Apple applied immense pressure on the Chinese manufacturer, and Foxconn’s security manager allegedly instigated unlawful methods in interrogating Sun two days later.

– The Forbes

FDA Recalls Dangerous Face Paints Made In China

Matthew Borghese, AHN Editor, May 13, 2009 –

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The Shanghai Color Art Stationery Company and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are issuing a recall for children’s face paint that may be harmful when used.

The FDA issued a recall after exposure to the product led to “rashes, itchiness, burning sensation, and swelling where the face paints were applied.” The FDA tested the paint and found “significant microbial contamination” in “most of the products.”

The products were sold by Fun Express Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oriental Trading Co. The colors effected by the recall include blue, purple, red, orange, black and green.

– AHN