Suppose for a moment that Al Qaeda operatives who used pharmaceutical factories in Sudan and Yemen for the purpose of manufacturing deadly chemicals decided to ply their trade in China, where lax standards and deleterious practices have already claimed lives?

This unsavory scenario has been missed in media reports and public policy discussions circulating around dangerous and unsafe Chinese imports that were discovered in American markets last year, and are most likely “lurking on shelves this holiday” season, Richard Miniter warns in a just released report entitled: “Buyers Remorse: How America Has Failed to See the Threat Posed by Dangerous Chinese Goods and the Case for `Safe Trade.’ ”  

Miniter is a best selling author and a fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Policymakers have thus far failed to take constructive action and to step up enforcement because the debate between “free-traders” and “protectionists” has prevented more pragmatic and effective suggestions from finding expression, Miniter observes in the report, written on behalf of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM). As an alternative, he offers public officials a third way.  

A new policy built around “Safe Trade” that places a greater premium on the health and safety of consumers could potentially pre-empt a second 9/11 scenario that results in the loss of blood and treasure, Miniter argues. A “safe trade” agenda would allow policymakers to step outside of the “false choice between unfettered free trade, or no trade,” he maintains.

When it was discovered that poisonous pet food from China was responsible for the sudden deaths of cats and dogs in the U.S. beginning in the Spring of 2006, Miniter saw a potential vulnerability that could be exploited. All told, about 4,000 pets have died as a result of the poisonous shipments, the report shows.  

Just a few months later, U.S. officials determined that humans were also at risk from food shipped from China. The FDA issued an alert on catfish, shrimp, dace and eel from China on June 28, 2007. Thus far, there have not been any reports of human illness, or human deaths connected with unsafe products from China.

News stories that called attention to the potential crisis did not focus attention on potential security threats, Miniter noted in an interview. 

“There was a pattern before 9/11 that so obvious, but no one noticed until after the big one,” he said. “But if we were to get a major poisoning from a Chinese product that results in thousands of deaths people will look back and wonder why didn’t we see this coming. So, why not prevent this before it happens.”

A Nexis search on poisonous, or tainted Chinese products connected with the subject of terrorism since the Spring of last year yields a paucity of results. While the recalls of pet food from China sparked a fair amount of coverage, the potential ramifications for American security have not been given due consideration in the media or in official Washington, Miniter said. 

Meanwhile, press organs in China have “amply documented” scandals connected with that country’s food market, according to the report. Some of food safety issues recorded in the People’s Daily involved steroid-tainted pork, parasite-infested snails, turbots (a fish) that contained excessive amounts of carcinogens, and ducks that were fed cancer-causing dye to make their egg yolks red.

At a time when American firms are becoming more reliant on China for trade it is imperative that U.S. officials adopt a more assertive and coordinated approach that would safeguard the citizenry against unsafe practices, Miniter argues in his report.  

The danger extends beyond food to other consumer products, the report points out.

“Of all the threats that America faces from Chinese imports, one that directly affects children should cause the most alarm,” he writes. “Tragically, today our children are exposed to a dangerous killer disguised for all intents and purposes as toys.”  

So called “toxic” toys could already be in circulation as China was the largest supplier to the U.S. of dolls, toys and games in 2006, according to the report.

A “safe trade” task force that brings together all the relevant government agencies should be established to enhance public safety, Minter suggests. This task force should include an intelligence unit that draws information from both foreign governments and U.S. law enforcements, Miniter proposes.  

“The intelligence function should be outward looking,” he explains.

In the event intelligence agents discovered tainted seafood and other poisonous products were coming from the same factory, perhaps one owned by the Red Army, data could be collected and scrutiny intensified for specific shipments, Miniter suggested.

“Safe trade is not an expansion of government power, but a core duty of any democracy,” Miniter states in the report. “It is the primary responsibility of government to safeguard the lives and property of its citizens.”  

The idea is to create a smaller, more effective government where the relevant government agencies work more effectively as a team to protect the American people, Miniter argues.

—Kevin Mooney is a reporter with CNSNews.com