China Covers Its Bases

Posted on July 8, 2007 at 8:45 am (PST)

After reports of a man dying in China as a cause of his cellphone batteries exploding, China has been cracking down on safety regulations, starting at the core of the problem: Motorola and Nokia.

Motorola and Nokia phone batteries were shown to have failed any safety tests administered on them and were prone to explosion on certain conditions. Funnily enough, both companies denied the batteries were theirs, hinting that the batteries ere counterfeit.

Cao Wenzhuang, a high-ranking official, was given the death penalty for accepting over $300,000 in bribes and approving counterfeit items. Counterfeit products have been distributed in China since the 1980’s, but have become increasingly more dangerous and erratic. This includes the lithium-based batteries found in cellphones computers. Even certain brands of Chinese toothpaste could be dangerous, which has shown to contain traces of diethylene glycol, a chemical responsible for 200 deaths in Haiti and Panama.

Over 30,000 inspectors were sent nationwide to find substandard foods, drugs and consumer products. As of this week, the reports shown that nearly 20 percent of the nation’s food and consumer products were found to be substandard or tainted. Nokia insists that its products are still appropriate for recreational use and there will be efforts to crack down on counterfeiting.

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