China's Food Safety Crisis

 http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/chinas-worsening-food-safety-crisis/261656/

When I read the quote from the Tsinghua professor about the state of morality in China and how it was “a society where everybody intoxicates everybody", I agreed. However, after giving a bit more thought on this topic and finding myself drawn into the media’s depiction of China, I decided to keep an open mind instead. Personally, I don’t believe in what the media says because only one side of an opinion is given. From this article and many more news I read about Chinese food safety, my initial reaction was anger at the Chinese government for not being able to regulate the products their economy is producing. But at the same time, I understood how hard it was to keep up with the sudden development of the country. Despite this, what struck me was how the morality of the people (not all, but many) was falling. For hundreds of years, many Chinese farmers and low-class workers lived in poverty and as a result, they had to do whatever they could to survive. But now, for many of these people, the urge to keep food on the table and such, have caused people to purposely create toxic products  such as mercury in baby formula, gelatin capsules for pills laced with chromium, artificial green peas, contaminated chives, recycled oil from gutters, and many poisonous food imitations. What is shocking is how, despite knowing the damage they are contributing, these people aren’t stopping. Along with the decline of morality and the ineffective government regulations and laws, China’s society is falling as well.

Another example of this was the melamine scandal of 2008, where big name brands were producing milk and baby formula with the chemical of melamine to make the product look like it had more protein. Many babies and children suffered in China and several even died. The companies even knew the products were contaminated and yet they still sold out hundreds of tons of it. The Chinese government jailed and fined head managers from the factories and even executed two Chinese as a death penalty. These punishments, however, made me feel as if the Chinese government was just desperately trying to look good and “disciplined”. In my mind, those two killed were just scapegoats. The Chinese government has not stopped others by just punishing those who are caught. Other small and under the radar companies in China continue their selfish goals by producing more tainted products and the government is partially to blame. In order for China to grow socially as well as economically, the government needs to instill better regulation strategies, and most importantly, the people of China needs to improve their morals and stop harming fellow citizens to gain profit.