China’s Melamine-Tainted Milk Scandal
Note for TV and radio: The University of Pennsylvania has a satellite
uplink facility with live-shot capability and an ISDN line.
Sept. 30, 2008
Expert:
Jacques deLisle
Professor of Law
Professor of East Asian Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Credentials:
• Researches and teaches Chinese law and politics
• Author of “One World, Different Dreams: The Contest to Define the
Beijing Olympics” from the book “Owning the Olympics: New
Narratives of China”
Quote:
“The structure of the business environment in China makes this type of problem relatively likely because of weak food, drug and product regulatory agencies, daunting enforcement problems, long and complicated and not-transparent supply chains and huge, overwhelming pressures to compete on price. It’s the same set of phenomena that contributed to the lead paint-tainted toy problem and the poisoned pet food problem. The limited good news is that Chinese central authorities are undertaking investigations, enforcement measures and promising regulatory reforms, and that they are under great pressure from world markets, Chinese popular sentiment and their own ideological commitments to focus more on the interests and needs of ordinary Chinese after many years of sharply rising inequality.”
