The latest wedge between America’s and China’s concept of freedom and safety come in two forms: Cadmium and Google.

Two stories that further evidence China’s unwillingness to play on the same field, and by the same rules, as most first world nations.

The cadmium story broke during the Christmas season. Lab tests showed dangerous levels of the metal in children’s low-cost jewelry imported from China.

Ironically, since lead was barred in children's toys because of its toxicity, Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen. Like lead, it can hinder brain development in the very young, according to recent research.

Children don't have to swallow an item to be exposed - they can get persistent, low-level doses by regularly sucking or biting jewelry with a high cadmium content.

Tests on 103 samples showed about 10 percent of them with cadmium content by weight ranging from 10 percent all the way up to 90 percent.

Chinese manufacturing associations said they had never been told stop using or to check for cadmium.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks 7th but no federal agency had ever bothered to look for it in children’s toys. The discovery was made through an investigation by the Associated Press.

In tandem with this issue it was learned that computer hackers in China had managed to trick human-rights activists into exposing their e-mail accounts through Google.

The Great Wall of China, constructed of local materials – stones and rock - served its purpose of closing out the rest of the world. Its digital counterpart, the great firewall of China, is proving more difficult to maintain.

When entering the China market in 2006, the price of doing business there was Google had to agree to a number of government demands, chief among them to censor a host of forbidden topics.

Google is now saying it will cease censoring its search results - as critics wanted it to do in the first place - and may leave the country altogether if more security hacks are attempted.

News accounts say that once word came of Google’s decision not to censor, Chinese subscribers began busily Googling such forbidden issues as the Tiananmen Square massacre and the riots in Tibet.

Our guilt lies in our inability to learn from the past. Chinese manufacturers have a long history of health and safety lapses, not only in children’s toys but in everything from pet food to human medications.

Google knew China’s reputation for human-rights abuses long before it agreed to cooperate with the regime in shielding search information from Chinese users.

Contemplate these topics as we continue to spend billions with a country whose ruling regime is at heart both ruthless and repressive.



Armand Nardi is the publisher of the Gainesville Daily Register. He can be contacted at: anardi@ntin.net.