The Made in China Bogeyman
PaPaPeng
Nothing is scarier
than the China scare
A US company orders a recall, and it is treated as routine. But let
something Chinese slip through the regulators and it is cause for
regime change. That is really what the Chinese-product fuss is all
about - rising imports from China. What is actually being played out
is the China scare - the antiquated, mercantilist fear of imports that
China's growing economic might evokes. - Debasish Roy Chowdhury
Nothing is scarier than the China scare
By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
August 4, 2007
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IH04Cb01.html
BEIJING - A new food scare has gripped the United States, with the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging people to throw away more
than 90 different products, made at a Castleberry's Food Co plant,
from chili sauce to corned-beef hash to dog food, for fears that they
are causing botulism, a muscle-paralyzing disease.
Seven cases of botulism have so far been reported. Most victims
consumed a hotdog chili sauce made at the company's plant in the US
state of Georgia that has been temporarily closed. The recall has been
expanded to Canada as well.
Castleberry's is owned by Bumble Bee Foods, the largest branded
seafood company in North America - not in China, the evil land from
where all the toxic food and lethal products in the world supposedly
emanate.
The list of product recalls in the United States in recent months is
almost inexhaustible. In March, Ford Motor Co recalled 2008 Super Duty
trucks made in a Kentucky plant after reports of tailpipe fires in the
diesel version of the vehicles; in June, California-based United Food
Group recalled 34,000 kilograms of ground-beef products after they
were suspected to have been contaminated with the bacterium
Escherichia coli (E coli); and in July, Sara Lee Corp began to recall
dozens of its whole-wheat bread brands made at a Mississippi bakery
for fears that they contained pieces of metal.
But the product scares and recalls the US media seem fixated on are
the ones from China. It is the faulty tires, toothpaste, pet food,
seafood and toys with a China connection that are making all the news,
with cover stories, editorials and television programs harping on how
China's "substandard" manufacturing methods are putting American
consumers at risk, how the factory to the world is actually one big
sham, and proffering ways to keep off products with any trace of
China.
As a bonus, the China horror story even has a feel-good subtext -
nothing can match US quality; if China makes goods cheaper than the
US, now you know how: by cutting corners.
This fear of Chinese products is reinforced by administrative
measures. At the height of the product scare, the US government
quickly formed a cabinet-level panel to recommend how to guarantee the
safety of imported food and other products. In this self-delusional
world of policymaking, the Castleberry's and the United Food Groups do
not exist, it is only the products coming from outside the United
States that pose a threat.
Though it was denied that the move was aimed at China, the
announcement came the same day US senators heard testimony from
quality regulators about problems caused by the extremely rapid growth
of imports from China.
That is really what this is all about - rising imports from China. It
is not the Chinese-product scare; what is actually being played out is
the China scare - the antiquated, mercantilist fear of imports that
China's growing economic might evokes.
Chinese exports to the US last year were nearly triple those of just
five years ago. Chinese exports to the United States totaled US$288
billion, while US exports to China totaled $55 billion.
But according to the Cato Institute, Americans have never earned or
spent a higher share of their income in the global economy than they
do today. In 2006, what the US earned through exports and income from
foreign investments abroad reached a record 15.6% of gross domestic
product. Since China's entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001,
US exports to this country have grown from $19 billion to $55 billion,
an annual average growth of 24%.
Despite the din about how China is getting ahead with its undervalued
yuan, real output of US factories has increased by 50% since China
pegged its currency to the US dollar in 1994.
Despite the rhetoric of how ("substandard") Chinese products are
stealing jobs from Americans rendered powerless by this unforeseen
consequence of globalization, trade with China accounts for a mere 1%
of annual job displacement in the US.
By Cato's estimates, at the most 150,000 jobs are lost in the US every
year because of imports from China, compared with 15 million jobs that
disappear annually in the US economy primarily as a result of
technological changes and the consequent increase in productivity.
Productivity gains have actually taken a bigger toll on employment in
China than in the US. A study by Alliance Capital Management LP in New
York finds that while the number of manufacturing workers in the US
dropped by 11% from 1995 through 2002, in China it dropped by 15%.
And in any case, Chinese imports in the US are mostly replacing
imports from other Asian countries, not US products themselves. And
manufacturing is no longer the foundation of the US economy as it
begins to de-industrialize as part of a global economic shift.
But then again, while there is no market for reason, there is a big
one for fear. That is why a Utah-based health-food company has
launched a new label and ad blitz promoting its products as
"China-free". This is despite the fact that FDA records show China is
not even the leading source of contaminated imports to the US. India
and Mexico have surpassed China in "refused food shipments" over the
past year, while the leader in rejected candy imports happens to be
Denmark.
Why pick on China?
It is difficult to ignore the xenophobic, and even racist, overtones
in the attacks against China. When the products are made in the US, it
is just the company that is in focus. When they are found to have a
China connection, even if it is a US company getting its products made
in China, it is the country that takes the lashes, as if the company
has no obligation toward quality control.
Protectionism needs a popular idiom. Xenophobia needs a whipping boy.
China scare is the product of this marriage of convenience. As the
poster boy of economic success and the visions it inspires of trumping
the almighty US economy, China is the obvious target when it comes to
manufactures. Much of the same is directed at India when it comes to
services, with outsourcing fears often vented by Western callers in
torrents of racist abuses on Indian call-center workers.
This xenophobia is what lies at the heart of the current product panic
in the US. If unchecked, and recklessly fanned, this has the potential
of derailing the very process of globalization that developing
countries are betting on for a better future. That is scarier than the
China scare.
Debasish Roy Chowdhury is a senior editor with China Daily.
Greg
>Nothing is scarier
>than the China scare
Yeah, listen to PaPaPeng!
Feed your dog that poisoned dog food and make him LIKE it. Tell your
kids that those toys with lead paint are good for them. And, brush
your teeth with that bogus Colgate that has anti-freeze chemicals in
it. These things make you TOUGH! China is doing you a FAVOR by killing
you!
Americans are turning into sissies...
PaPaPeng
wrote:
Hey I haven't said anything yet. The article was quoted in toto. But
here's something I did say elsewhere.
On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:54:17 +0900, Gernot Hassenpflug
<ger...@coda.ocn.ne.jp> wrote:
>> Must be a Chinese population control thingy. Just imagine China's
>> population boom if the food is Grade A
>
>You can control with cholesterol also you know. America does it.
>--
>Gernot Hassenpflug
More than a billion walk and bicycle a lot. But obesity among kids is
a recent problem. Furthermore a little bit of anything good and the
not so good fortifies and perhaps immunizes one's constitution against
greater insults that one will inevitably encounter some time in one's
life. A Chinaman can eat almost anything that has a hint of protein.
China is a medical statistician's dream. Fast changing social norms
should provide good data for many medical linkages. The sample size
for any disease is statistically super significant. I remember a
professional journal's gushing report (some 30 years ago) about
finding long existing (multi generational) pockets of specific
diseases (eg. throat cancer) in one village where an identical village
just half an hour away walking distance does not suffer from them.
Often the majority of the villagers are inter-related and its not
uncommon for a whole village to share the same surname. Scratch the
surface and everyone is everyone else's cousin somewhere. Until just
30 years ago there was traditionally very little emigration out or a
recruitment of outsiders in village communities. Thus there were
literrally tens of thousands of villages where their genetic pool had
been certifiably stable over several centuries and likely much longer.
From the anecdotal stories of life in modern China, especially those
of migrant workers, there seems not that much mixing yet. Most still
chose their life partners from their home area. Chinese may all look
alike and speak putonghua ("plain speak" based on the Beijing dialect)
But village kinship, provincial dialects and local traditions do
influence social bonding and marriage decisions.
jtno...@yahoo.com
> On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:10:16 -0400, Greg <kismet2...@mypacks.net>
> wrote:
Quality prblems do exist in the little bit of U.S. manufacturing that
remains, but unlike China, we have industrial and health standards
that are publicly accessible (China's gvmt. still handles much of this
information as a state secret) and more importantly, we have an
independent legal system in which private parties can sue to enforce
standards. In China, the courts are part of the political system, and
private rights are not only unenforceable but often treated as acts of
treason. Expecting any kind of quality control under these
circumstances is a delusion.-Jitney
PaPaPeng
>Quality prblems do exist in the little bit of U.S. manufacturing that
>remains, but unlike China, we have industrial and health standards
>that are publicly accessible (China's gvmt. still handles much of this
>information as a state secret) and more importantly, we have an
>independent legal system in which private parties can sue to enforce
>standards. In China, the courts are part of the political system, and
>private rights are not only unenforceable but often treated as acts of
>treason. Expecting any kind of quality control under these
>circumstances is a delusion.-Jitney
Read the original afticle closely. Go after the culprit not a whole
country or a people. Any China enterprise that exports to the US does
so in quantities by the containerful shipload. That is its big
business. Its very easy for the buyer to specify manufacturing and
safety standards and make them stick. Not to do so loses the
business. Its common sense for someone paying good big bucks for
goods to make sure they are safe. It doesn't take much to get the
specs right and to get them tested for compliance on delivery. In
sue happy US its a matter of self protection and good business
practice.
Anyway here's this development:
China's about-face on product safety
By Antoaneta Bezlova
August 3, 2007
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IH03Cb01.html
BEIJING - Dogged by a plethora of reports in the foreign media
highlighting problem Chinese goods and worried that product-safety
recalls are spiraling into a major problem for its export juggernaut,
Beijing has shifted gears to defend its battered "Made in China"
reputation.
On Wednesday, the world's largest toymaker, Mattel, announced a
massive recall of Chinese-made toys because of excessive lead in their
paint. Reluctant to acknowledge such problems when they first came to
light several months ago, Chinese authorities are now daily rounding
up companies suspected of faulty products. The safety crackdown on
domestic producers has been accompanied by a public relations campaign
aimed at international traders.
"The Chinese government pays great attention to addressing flaws in
product quality, especially the quality of food products," Li
Changjiang, minister in charge of the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said at a specially
convened press conference.
The government's acknowledgement of existing problems makes a
remarkable departure for a bureaucratic system prone to cover-ups.
When a pet-food ingredient produced in China was linked to the deaths
of cats and dogs in North America in April, Beijing's first reaction
was to deny it. "The poisoning of American pets has nothing to do with
China," claimed a report in the Communist Party's flagship newspaper,
the People's Daily.
Export-control officials argued that food contamination occurred both
within the United States and with US exports to China. "No
food-inspection system is foolproof," Li Yuanping, director general of
the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau, countered at the time.
But international worries about China's exports have continued to
mount with more and more reports about substandard and fake products
coming to light. Since April, a slew of exports - including
toothpaste, tires, seafood and toys - have been recalled or rejected
around the world. What is worse, mislabeled drug ingredients in
Chinese exports have been blamed for killing and injuring people in
Panama and Haiti.
As a result, China has come under political pressure from the US and
the European Union, where politicians are demanding assurances about
the quality and safety of Chinese exports.
After slapping controls on China's seafood imports because of unsafe
chemical residues found in farm-raised fish, the US administration
dispatched its health chief for talks with Chinese officials this
week.
"Our US regulatory agencies are concerned about what they see as an
insufficient infrastructure across the board in China to assure the
safety, quality and effectiveness of many products exported to the
United States," Mike Leavitt said in Beijing on Tuesday.
Leavitt's mission to Beijing came on the heels of a visit by the head
of the EU's consumer-protection agency, Meglena Kuneva, last week.
Kuneva urged Chinese regulators to track down every producer of
substandard goods and stop their exports to Europe.
China's safety woes have not been limited to Europe and North America.
Excessive antibiotic or pesticide residue has caused bans in Japan on
Chinese poultry products, frozen spinach and tea. Hong Kong blocked
imports of turbot fish last year after inspectors found traces of
malachite green, a possible cancer-causing chemical used to treat
fungal infections.
Last year Taiwan too banned imports of hairy crabs from mainland China
over traces of carcinogens. This June, Russia's federal agricultural
authorities banned fish from China because of antibiotic
contamination.
Watching the volley of safety complaints, Chinese officials have grown
worried that an all-around international campaign on problem goods
could lead to sanctions and hurt the country's exports.
Exports and foreign investment are the chief engines of China's
booming economy. According to World Trade Organization statistics,
China's total food exports reached US$246 billion in 2005, which is
nearly eight times the $31 billion it exported in 1980.
In a dramatic display of concern, two weeks ago China executed the
former head of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), Zheng
Xiaoyu, for accepting bribes in return for granting government
approval for various medicines in 2005.
Experts say several agencies involved in safety and quality
supervision, such as the SFDA and the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, squabble over the
division of powers and tend to deny responsibility for mistakes.
In recent weeks, the government has pledged to overhaul the
regulations on food and drug safety and announced a nationwide quality
and safety inspection. This week, Beijing issued a regulation holding
local governments responsible for any major food poisoning or other
health threat caused by contaminated or substandard food.
Yet, while aiming to publicize its actions on safety controls, Beijing
has also tried to limit future PR fallout. Newspapers in the capital
have been warned against running negative news on food safety, even
negative articles reprinted from newspapers in other regions, reported
the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post this week.
Some observers are criticizing foreign media for exaggerating food
safety.
"All these negative reports and commentaries about 'Made in China' -
it all smacks of psychological warfare," argued Zhang Guoqing, an
expert on international affairs with the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences. "It is worth reminding detractors that China's trade surplus
is a testimony to the opportunities and attraction of the Chinese
economy."
(Inter Press Service)
Don't worry your pretty head about the crap Chinese sell to Chinese
inside China. Chinese are not idiots. They count their pennies
before they buy anything. The bad stuff don't get anywhere since
there is so much choice from thousands of manufacturers for any item
of merchandise. There are few if any national brands and the damage
from any dangerous goods is localized. Shit happens and you can't
catch them all everytime. For the occasional higher level fraud like
fake pharmaceutical drugs the penalty is long jail terms and even the
death penalty. There is none of this long court process with plea
bargains and getting off on a technicality.
jtno...@yahoo.com
> On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:10:48 -0700, jtnos...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >Quality prblems do exist in the little bit of U.S. manufacturing that
> >remains, but unlike China, we have industrial and health standards
> >that are publicly accessible (China's gvmt. still handles much of this
> >information as a state secret) and more importantly, we have an
> >independent legal system in which private parties can sue to enforce
> >standards. In China, the courts are part of the political system, and
> >private rights are not only unenforceable but often treated as acts of
> >treason. Expecting any kind of quality control under these
> >circumstances is a delusion.-Jitney
>
> Read the original afticle closely. Go after the culprit not a whole
> country or a people. Any China enterprise that exports to the US does
> so in quantities by the containerful shipload. That is its big
> business. Its very easy for the buyer to specify manufacturing and
> safety standards and make them stick. Not to do so loses the
> business. Its common sense for someone paying good big bucks for
> goods to make sure they are safe. It doesn't take much to get the
> specs right and to get them tested for compliance on delivery. In
> sue happy US its a matter of self protection and good business
> practice.
>
> Anyway here's this development:
>
> China's about-face on product safety
> By Antoaneta Bezlova
Quoting from your article:
"Yet, while aiming to publicize its actions on safety controls,
Beijing
has also tried to limit future PR fallout. Newspapers in the capital
have been warned against running negative news on food safety, even
negative articles reprinted from newspapers in other regions,
reported
the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post this week."
It helps prove my point. Rather than address the problems directly,
the government is punishing the messengers.
Unless there is an independent civil judicial system in which private
companies and individuals (including foreigners who do business
in China) can get fair and equal treatment for their complaints before
an impartial judge, economic participants do business in China at
their
peril. There is also a systemic cultural bias against outsiders, who
are still considered "foreign devils".-Jitney
The Henchman
"PaPaPeng" <PaPa...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:kc27b35i57r50q1s3...@4ax.com...
>
>
> Nothing is scarier than the China scare
> By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
> August 4, 2007
> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IH04Cb01.html
>
Good article with a different perspective. Thank you for providing it.
I work for a tool manufacturing firm in Canada. We are small, 7 people, and
our customers resell our products to both construction and manufacturing
businesses.
We have stuck by our American steel imports at my firm but because we have
no idea when these American firms will outsource (two of them have to Turkey
and India) we have approached several Chinese firms to see what they would
offer. Why import from the USA if it's just rebadged.
Also American firms in our industry have no problem going after our own
customers. Because we provided technical help and support most of our
customers will stay with us. My employer is from Wisconsin himself but it's
his opinion to stop importing raw product from any American firm unless they
will ensure us they do not sell behind our back in our immediate market.
American firms set up shell companies to get the customers themselves. The
Chinese wanted to give us an exclusive geographic area in exchange for
paying upon delivery.
We deal with alloy steel. The Chinese firms and our reps we talked two
cannot provided the specific alloys we need but I will say they listened and
tried gain our business and listened to and considered what our customers
would need and want and what concerns they would have. Maybe in another 5
years we will revisit these Chinese firms and see how their steel alloy
development has advanced.
So for me the Chinese had great customer service and the Americans had empty
promises. Currently we are now getting about 70% of our steel from Western
European sources. It's expensive but the quality is great and we know the
Europeans won't attempt to take our customers away unlike the Americans and
we know the Europeans will not comprimise on quality on their tool industry.
It used to be 80% of our steel was from American sources.
But we are just one firm.
Don K
news:23_si.3192$tb2....@fe02.news.easynews.com...
>
> I work for a tool manufacturing firm in Canada. We are small, 7 people, and our
> customers resell our products to both construction and manufacturing businesses.
>
> We have stuck by our American steel imports at my firm but because we have no idea when
> these American firms will outsource (two of them have to Turkey and India) we have
> approached several Chinese firms to see what they would offer. Why import from the USA
> if it's just rebadged.
To save the bother of doing it yourself, the same reason for buying anything.
> Also American firms in our industry have no problem going after our own customers.
> Because we provided technical help and support most of our customers will stay with us.
> My employer is from Wisconsin himself but it's his opinion to stop importing raw product
> from any American firm unless they will ensure us they do not sell behind our back in
> our immediate market. American firms set up shell companies to get the customers
> themselves.
That's called competition and is generally a good thing.
> The Chinese wanted to give us an exclusive geographic area in exchange for paying upon
> delivery.
People will do such things to break into a market. Things could change
with them too, once they establish themselves.
> We deal with alloy steel. The Chinese firms and our reps we talked two cannot provided
> the specific alloys we need but I will say they listened and tried gain our business and
> listened to and considered what our customers would need and want and what concerns they
> would have. Maybe in another 5 years we will revisit these Chinese firms and see how
> their steel alloy development has advanced.
Don't be overly impressed. Any sales rep whose company doesn't yet have
a required capability will politely listen and try to convince you that they
will be seriously considering your needs as they strive to develop their
future products.
> So for me the Chinese had great customer service and the Americans had empty promises.
What tangible customer service did you received?
It's like the old joke about the store selling an item for $2.
The customer complains that they're only $1 at another store.
Then, why don't you buy it there?
They're out of them.
When we're out of them, we sell them for $1 too.
Don
PaPaPeng
>
>Quoting from your article:
>
>"Yet, while aiming to publicize its actions on safety controls,
>Beijing
>has also tried to limit future PR fallout. Newspapers in the capital
>have been warned against running negative news on food safety, even
>negative articles reprinted from newspapers in other regions,
>reported
>the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post this week."
>
>It helps prove my point. Rather than address the problems directly,
>the government is punishing the messengers.
>Unless there is an independent civil judicial system in which private
>companies and individuals (including foreigners who do business
>in China) can get fair and equal treatment for their complaints before
>an impartial judge, economic participants do business in China at
>their peril.
The two articles I cited should be enough to cover all I can possibily
say on the issue. All that remains is to wait to see how real people
handle the situation. Will China modify its processes to meet
customer demands? Yes because its relatively painless, cheap and easy
to do so. Will US consumers stop buying Made in China goods? It
never even happened in the first place because the benefits and
utility far outweigh the anti-China hype. Other than the occasional
attack the anti-China hype has already passed from the headlines.
You now have a major infrastructure breakdown crisis, a Congress that
can't get anything passed and a government that is dead in the water
to keep the headlines screaming.
>There is also a systemic cultural bias against outsiders, who
>>are still considered "foreign devils".-Jitney
Reminds me of a published joke.
A US Frontier Calvary captain was trying to make nice to an Indian
chief, peace pipe and all, in an attempt to stop Indian raids. After
a much hot air from the captian the chief said nothing but gave the
capt. the familiar middle finger sign. Our capt. says, "The middle
finger stabbing upwards I get. But what is this stabbing sideways
too?" After much puffing on the peace pipe the chief says, "I don't
like your horse either."
PaPaPeng
wrote:
>Don't be overly impressed. Any sales rep whose company doesn't yet have
>a required capability will politely listen and try to convince you that they
>will be seriously considering your needs as they strive to develop their
>future products.
The big problem here is that as soon as a product is successful
several more producers jump in make exactly the same thing. Read the
June '07 article on China's Boomtown in the June National Geographic
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0706/feature4/ to get a good
idea of the kind of cutthroat competition Chinese manufacturers face
in their home territory. But that kind of competition is what gets
you the take no prisoners "China Price".
Ted Fishman's book "China*Inc" give an even more detailed treatment of
the "China Price."
http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/8704138/used/China,%20Inc.:%20How%20the%20Rise%20of%20the%20Next%20Superpower%20Challenges%20America%20and%20the%20World
Al Bundy
> On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 20:02:05 GMT, PaPaPeng <PaPaP...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >Nothing is scarier
> >than the China scare
>
> Yeah, listen to PaPaPeng!
>
> Feed your dog that poisoned dog food and make him LIKE it. Tell your
> kids that those toys with lead paint are good for them. And, brush
> your teeth with that bogus Colgate that has anti-freeze chemicals in
> it. These things make you TOUGH! China is doing you a FAVOR by killing
> you!
>
> Americans are turning into sissies...
You are dealing with "cut-n-paste" Peng here, not a US citizen
concerned with our health. He waters his tooth paste down with tap
water by the way. Perhaps he figures that diluting the glycol is a
good thing.
Meghan Noecker
> Will US consumers stop buying Made in China goods? It
>never even happened in the first place because the benefits and
>utility far outweigh the anti-China hype.
Unfortunately, the US consumer cannot go after the guilty parties in
these cases.
My cat is dead. Because somebody in China thought it was okay to put
plastic in the wheat gluten. The US gets 80% of its wheat gluten from
China. The comanies here did not do anything wrong, but they are the
ones taking the financial loss.
Do you think the people in China give a damn about our cats and dogs?
I've seen videos of the cats and dogs in cages at marketplaces being
sold for food, so I don't think they really have a clue what they mean
to us here. Will the stop putting melamine in the wheat gluten? Maybe
for awhile, and then they will just use lower amounts.
So, no, I will never buy pet food with wheat gluten in it ever again.
And I will not buy the brands of food that got hit by this either
since I have seen no proof that they will discontinue using
ingredients from China. I see no reason to buy food products from
China until they follow our standards in producing and handling the
food.
Anytime I have a choice to avoid a Chinese product, I will. I wish it
wasn't so hard to avoid buying Chinese products. I see no reason to
reward them financially when my cat is dead. They don't give a damn
about me. Why should I invest in them?
Pss
> Do you think the people in China give a damn about our cats and dogs?
> I've seen videos of the cats and dogs in cages at marketplaces being
> sold for food, so I don't think they really have a clue what they mean
> to us here.
If cows & chickens can be sold for food, why can't cats & dogs
be???
PaPaPeng
<frie...@zoocrewphoto.com> wrote:
>So, no, I will never buy pet food with wheat gluten in it ever again.
>And I will not buy the brands of food that got hit by this either
>since I have seen no proof that they will discontinue using
>ingredients from China. I see no reason to buy food products from
>China until they follow our standards in producing and handling the
>food.
An excellent attitude. Be discriminating and smart in anything you
do.
Ward Abbott
>If cows & chickens can be sold for food, why can't cats & dogs
>be???
possums, skunks, armadillo?
Rod Speed
The chinese have always been notorious for eating absolutely anything.
PaPaPeng
wrote:
Shhhh. Don't even suggest it. Chinese will demand this as an exotic
food and there goes your ecosystem.
clams casino
umm - Chinese buffets..................