Unsafe imports slip through regulatory net

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NEW YORK (AP) -- The poison arrived in a plastic bottle from India bearing a simple label in English and Hindi. "Useful in flu and bodyache," it read. "Two tabs twice a day or as per physician's advice."

What it didn't say was that the herbal medicine, on sale at a store in Queens, contained 2,190 times the amount of mercury considered safe by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

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This is what happens when you spend money fighting imaginary threats instead of real ones.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UNSAFE_IMPORTS?SITE=FLDAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

We shouldn't inspect foreign products for safety - if I spend less on a product from India, it's a personal choice, and I should accept as a consequence that I may be poisoned with mercury. I chose to pay less, therefore I chose to die! It's the ultimate expression of personal freedom!

**takes off the Milton Friedman hat**

We shouldn't inspect foreign products for safety

Yes we should. The item ( pills /tools/ toys) must meet out minimum standards.
For example, you buy those pills, and you get sick. Who pays? Your Ins. Co does, so my premiums might go up. Then you decide you don't like the pills, and throw them out. Now we have more pollution in out eco-system.

With tools, for example, ever crank down on an Indian made vice? I did, SNAP. So, I bought a Made in USA 4" Vice, (at 4X the cost), works great.
Now if the part that Indian vice snapped of due to cheapo production methods, cut my finger bad, who pays....my INS co, again, we all pay into it.

With toys, and I'll include crayons, you get unsafe ingredients, or parts. The next kid gets sick from it.

A while back a huge amount of Chinese made crayons were recalled. To much lead in them. So we need these minimum standards, to protect our health, and environment.

those unsafe foreign pharmaceuticals out of the USA. If we can't even make sure that legal OTC meds are safe, how can we possibly make sure that the prescription phamaceuticals are safe?

More strawman arguments from the people who brought you the BFEE...

in a bathtub full of mercury, but he'd float, due to mercury's density.