Should Western Countries Stop Buying Products

Made in China?
Adrian Lee
Wherever you go, doesnt matter if you go to a supermarket or
the Apple shop, you will almost 100% find at least five item that
comes from China. Most of us students skip where the item is made
from, but it seems that more and more people are taking a look at
where the item comes from. According to Gallups American
Consumers Showing Aversion to Made in China Label by Jeffrey M.
Jones, he writes that Chinese officials 1% or less of Chinas objects
do not meet international quality standards. But Americans see it
differently. About 45% of Chinese food products and about 49% of
Chinese manufactured goods violate U.S. health and safety
standards. This raises the question on whether or not western
countries like America should continue buying products that come
from China. My view on this question is that western countries
should stop buying items from China.
Global warming has been a very significant issue in this world,
and although I dont blame other countries, China seems like the
country who is giving off the most greenhouse gases. There are
factories scattered all around of China, and places like Beijing and
Shanghai are getting covered with great smog. According to the
CNN article Can Chinas Most Polluted City Lead a Green Energy
Revolution? by Matt Rivers, it shows that Baoding, China, just
recently got an API reading at nearly 1,000, but an API reading of
100+ is unhealthy according to the United Nations. Most of the
places with factories emit lots of mercury into the air. According to
Discover Magazines Made In China: Our Toxic, Imported Air
Pollution by David Kirby, China emits more mercury than the United
States, the entire Europe, and India combined. The emitted mercury

goes into the air, and the polar jet stream takes that mercury into
other parts of the world, including the United States, causing a
problem in not only China, but also other places in the world.
Food has been very essential for people, but a concern about
how safe Chinas food has started to raise. According to Food Safety
Newss article on food safety, Nancy Huehnergarth talks about how
although her friend who lives in China takes many precautions
against, she gets contracted by food poisoning at least once a year.
The fact that most people who work in the factories are not
educated on hygiene and safety is an embarassment to China, and
workers should be educated that it is possible for people to die due
to food poisoning. For this reason, some people (325,00+
signatures) signed a petition to ban Chinese chicken from coming
into supermarkets and serving it to kids. Even mainlanders think
that the government lies that the food is safe to avoid protest and
panic. Shuanghai International, Chinas main meat product
company, has received countless reports of food poisoning cases,
maggots in the meat, and other problems of the meat, so maybe
Chinas food standards arent as good as the ones from the U.S.
China doesnt have a large amount of people working, and
thus most of the adults are unemployed. According to the World
Bank, about 4.6% of the Chinese are unemployed, which was last
updated in 1998. Thats about 62.744 million people unemployed,
and for the lucky who do get a job, their only sort of income is
through the sales of what they make. So I do understand that some
people want to build more factories so the unemployed can get a
job. But does it really take priority over the air pollution that has
almost gone over the top? Does it take priority over the people who
get sick every year due to the people not handling the items safely?
The Chinese are not only endagering other people, but they are also
endagering themselves, as due to water level rise, the coast may

flood, so they dont have a place to live. China can help the effects
of global warming by putting money into sustainable energy, and
the residents of China can read about what happens if items are not
handled safely.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the factories in China are
causing many problems around the world. It is true that without
these products, it will be hard. The Christian Science Monitors story
about a family having a year without Made In China explains that it
was really hard not to have China in their lives for a year, but it was
for a purpose. To not have the cases of global warming in their lives.
To stay safe from sicknesses from China. To stop China from taking
over their lives. No one said that it would be easy to not use
products from China, but we must take action against the harmful
effects of global warming, and the problem on food safety. For the
above reasons, I think that the western countries should stop buying
items from China.

Works Cited
Bongiorni, Sara. "A Year Without "Made in China"" Csmonitor.com. The Christian Science
Moniter, 20 Dec. 2005. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"China." The World Bank. The World Bank Group, 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.
Huehnergarth, Nancy. "China's Food Safety Issues Worse Than You Thought | Food Safety
News." Food Safety News. Food Safety News, 10 July 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
Jones, Jeffrey M. "American Consumers Showing Aversion to "Made in China"
Label." Gallup.Com. Gallup, Inc, 30 Aug. 2007. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
Kirby, David. "Made in China: Our Toxic, Imported Air Pollution." Science and Technology
News. Discover, 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
Rivers, Matt. "Welcome to Baoding, China's Most Polluted City - CNN.com." CNN. Cable
News Network, 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.