Submitted By: Ryan Maaskamp

After a standoff between Google and Thailand’s government and a resulting countrywide ban on the website YouTube, Google has agreed to remove videos that are said to be insulting to Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This is not the first time Google has backed down on censorship issues. Recall the issue involving Google and the Chinese government in which Google removed politically sensitive subjects from their search results including the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Google did show some signs of courage by refusing to remove two videos that were deemed offensive by the Thai government. Regardless, Google’s actions make me question their true interests. Is Google still following its original mission of “organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful”, or have they compromised their values for future returns ?

Submitted By: Lindsay Yoshitomi

The major ingredient in antifreeze, diethylene glycol, has been linked to counterfeit drugs sold as medication. Thousands have died as a result of this industrial solvent being substituted for glycerin which is commonly and safely used in drugs, food and toothpaste. The deadly counterfeit drug has been tracked to Chinese companies, compounding the woes of China’s already lax food and drug regulations. In the recent months, US authorities have accused China of exporting animal food tainted with the industrial chemical, melamine.

According to this NY Times article, China has been a major source of counterfeit drugs. Couple that with being a big player in the global economy today, and you have a recipe for a profitable, although deadly counterfeiting business. The sweet-tasting poison is added to cough syrup, fever medication and injectable drugs because it’s cheaper than glycerin. Anyone who has used antifreeze in their car knows how toxic diethylene glycol can be. We are often warned not to spill antifreeze on the ground because pets are attracted to the sweet taste of this toxic syrup, which can lead to death. It’s scary to think that a company would knowingly distribute a chemical that causes death as a safe ingredient for medication. It makes me wonder about the quality of imported foods from countries that have poor standards and safety regulations.

Although the counterfeit glycerin has not slipped into the US, thousands around the world have died. Most recently, Panama fell victim to the falsely labeled drug when it manufactured 260,000 bottles of cold medicine using diethylene glycol, which was imported from China as 99.5% pure glycerin. Hundreds died as a result of the toxic syrup, which has been traced to its origin near the Yangtze Delta. According to trade records, the counterfeit glycerin went through three companies in three countries, untested and with altered certificates that eventually showed no point of origin.

Dr. Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization’s top representative in Beijing says, “This is really a global problem, and it needs to be handled in a global way.” However, he doesn’t go on to say how. Although the Chinese government claims it will clean up its pharmaceutical industry, much like the tainted pet food incident, officials also claim no laws have been broken. No one is admitting a mea culpa here.