“Chinese food exports to the United States have nearly quintupled in the past decade, from roughly $880 million to more than $4.2 billion, and the People’s Republic, after Canada, has become America’s second-largest seafood supplier. China’s pharmaceutical exports to the US have more than quadrupled in the past five years, and some 3,000 Chinese firms now sell medical devices in the States. Such is China’s reach that American consumers would be hard pressed to find certain items, including vitamin C tablets or heparin, manufactured anywhere else. Yet the Bush administration, in its eagerness to expand trade, has relegated consumer safety to the backseat.” (for publication 09/08)