Study Asks if Tainted Chinese Herbs Are Harming, Not Healing

BEIJING â€" Chinese herbal medicine, an ancient tradition that is supposed to heal, may be doing the opposite: is it also harming people’s health and polluting the environment with pesticides, as a Greenpeace study released Monday suggests?

The study, “Chinese Herbs: Elixir of Health or Pesticide Cocktail?” tested 65 popular Chinese herbs from nine pharmacies in nine Chinese cities and found 48 tested positive for pesticide residues. Six of the residues (found in 26 of the samples) were from pesticides banned in China, including some the World Health Organization has classified as extremely hazardous. Alarmingly, one pesticide residue was 500 times over the European Union maximum, the study found.

That Chinese traditional herbs are tainted is known here; last year, People’s Daily online posted an article that said, “Don’t let poor qualty herbs destroy the practice of traditional Chinese medicine!” The piece went on to describe the severity of pesticide residue and chemical pollution in traditional Chinese medicines.

China’s 600 million farmers use close to two million tons of pesticides each year but the effective utilization rate is only about 30 percent, the Greenpeace study found. The rest turns into hazardous soil, water and air pollution.

Over the past few years, China has spent 21 billion renminbi on genetic engineering research and development, far outstripping the 700 million renminbi spent on ecological farming, the study said.

Health implications from long-term exposure to toxic pesticide levels may include learning difficulties, hormone disruption and reproductive abnormalities, Greenpeace said.

Sometimes drunk as teas, also brewed then dried, powdered and turned into capsule form, traditional Chinese medicine has been used for thousands of years to cure ailments ranging from the common cold ! to ovarian cysts.

“Chinese herbs are trusted and used as food ingredients for healing purposes by millions of people around the world,” said Jing Wang, an ecological farming campaigner and project leader of the Greenpeace study. “They are an iconic part of our heritage we must preserve. Chinese herbs should heal, not harm people and must be pesticide free.”

China needs to do far more to combat the use of potentially dangerous pesticides in farming and the food chain, Ms. Wang said.

“From when we first started paying attention to this issue of pesticides until now, China hasn’t done much to change agricultural practices,” she said. “If the government were to realize the magnitude of this problem and make it a priority, I believe they would have the ability to improve food safety and reduce the use of pesticides. But at present, we haven’t seen this happen.”

Greenpeace has been warning against pesticides in Chinese foods, drinks and other ingested products for years Last year, 12 of the 18 tea products it tested were found to contain at least one banned pesticide.

In 2011, it found 35 of 50 vegetables and fruits tested, from major supermarket chains across China, contained pesticides.

Poll Finds Australians Uneasy About Chinese Investment

BEIJING - From American pig farms to Club Med and British yacht makers, China's appetite for overseas investment is growing fast and diversifying. Governments and businesses are quick to praise the trend, but what do ordinary citizens think?

Australia is at the forefront of Chinese investment, and on Monday the Lowy Institute, a leading foreign policy research center in Sydney, released the results of a poll in which 57 percent of respondents said Australia was allowing too much investment from China, consistent with findings from previous years.

Chinese outbound investment increased to $77.22 billion in 2012, according to the Dragon Index, the first index to track Chinese outbound investment globally, by A Capital, a private equity fund based in Brussels.

While Australia is popular, countries like the United States and Canada are catching up, according to a KPMG report, “Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia: Update March 2013.”

Most investment in Australia was in mining and gas, but paralleling a global trend it is diversifying into sectors like agriculture and real estate. Last month, State Grid Corp., China's largest energy distributor, bought an $812 million stake in the Australian energy company SP AusNet.

Presented with foreign investment options from around the worl d including the Norwegian government investment fund and U.S. corporations, respondents gave investments by Chinese state-owned enterprises the lowest rate of approval at 23 percent, in a different poll conducted in August 2012 by Essential Media, a strategic political consulting firm.

“Australians recognize the economic value of Chinese investments but are wary of their provenance and the poor transparency of Chinese state-run companies,” said Kerry Brown, executive director of the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney.

Perceptions have been negatively affected by high-profile cases in which the Chinese government detained Australian citizens born in China, said Alex Oliver, who headed up the Lowy poll this year. “I think Australians are wary of China's human rights issues, its nondemocratic system and a completely different, unfamiliar society.”

Recent territorial disputes betwe en China and its neighbors may be one reason 41 percent of Australians polled thought it was likely that China would become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years. Allegations of Chinese cyberhacking aimed at government organizations and major corporations in Australia have not helped perceptions.

Over all, it's a bumpy ride for Chinese investment in Australia. Politicians and the news media are regularly accused of hyping anti-Chinese sentiment, with one conservative politician calling the decision last year to sell a cotton farm to Chinese and Japanese investors “a bloody disgrace.” High-profile mining deals have partly or fully fallen through, with notable examples including those between Chinalco and Rio Tinto in 2009, and between China Minmetals and OZ Minerals the same year. Out of concern for national security, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been banned from tendering for government contracts for Australia's National Broadband Network.

But many in the business community say there is a lot of ignorance and confusion when Australians talk about Chinese investment and China's strategic motives.

“State owned does not mean state controlled,” said Doug Ferguson, head of the KPMG Australia China Business Practice. “Many of China's state-owned companies that invest in Australia are driven by profitable growth, access to new markets to sell products and services, acquisition of intellectual property and a desire to learn, similar to American, French, Japanese and Korean companies.”

And it's easy to forget that China is only the ninth-largest foreign direct investor in Australia. “There has been so much medi a hype about Chinese investment that no one seems to remember that Chinese investment accounts for just 3 percent of total foreign direct investment in Australia,” said Linda Jakobson, director of the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program.

Attitudes also differ between sectors. While Australians might be more open to foreign investment in natural resources and the arts, the 2012 Lowy poll found that 81 percent of Australians were against the government allowing foreign companies to buy Australian farmland.

“It hits right at the Australian identity of Australia as a farming nation, an agricultural power harking back to its wool and beef trade,” Ms. Oliver said.

“These concerns about Chinese companies buying into the Australian agricultural sector are valid inasmuch as Chinese companies must do more themselves to shift these misunderstanding s and misconceptions about their ownership,” Dr. Brown said.

Engagement might be one key to a broader understanding of investor motivations. The 2013 Lowy poll indicated that people from Western Australia, the state that receives the most Chinese investment, were the least concerned about China as a military threat.

Chinese managing directors who speak good English, plan to have longer-term careers in Australia and understand Australian business culture are also ideal, Mr. Ferguson said. “Australia is a very sports crazy country, so it helps that Huawei and LiuGong have sponsored rugby league jerseys. It's a similar strategy to what the Japanese do in Australia.”

“Changing Australian perceptions is a public diplomacy challenge for China. From time to time, Australians are reminded that China's motivations might not be benign, “ Ms. Oliver said.

Yet despite some contradictory views in the poll that Australians had toward their country's engag ement with Asia, the vast majority of respondents, 87 percent, thought it was possible for Australia to have a good relationship with China and the United States at the same time.

“Australians are very pragmatic towards China. From a business point of view, Australians are firmly attached to their hip pocket and they know which side their bread is buttered on,” Ms. Oliver said. “For that reason, it will be business as usual with China.”

IHT Quick Read: June 24

NEWS Edward J. Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday as American officials pressed Russia to turn him over and warned countries in Latin America not to harbor him or allow him passage. Peter Baker reports from Washington and Ellen Barry from Moscow.

Analysts said the Chinese government allowed the former National Security Agency contractor to leave Hong Kong to prevent a legal battle and maintain ties with the United States. Jane Perlez reports from Beijing and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong.

Spain's Interior Ministry said the police dismantled two criminal gangs involved in importing and distributing steroids, blood boosters and growth hormones. Raphael Minder reports from Madrid.

In one of the most brazen attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years, militants killed 10 tourists in the Himalayas and their Pakistani guide. Salman Masood and Declan Walsh report.

EDUCATION In recent years, schools in Britain, like those in the United States, have struggled under an increasing burden of testing and assessment designed to improve quality and to enforce some version of national standards. But education in Scotland has long been run differently from the rest of Britain. While schools in England encouraged students to specialize, Scottish schools traditionally aimed for a greater breadth of knowledge. D.D. Guttenplan writes from East Dunbartonshire, Scotland.

FASHION Miuccia Prada created an exotic world but with a sense that the men in tailored jackets over tropical shirts were up to no good. Suzy Menkes on the men's wear collections in Milan.

ARTS Cycle Super Highways are under construction in Copenhagen, part of the Danish capital's efforts to become carbon-neutral by 2025. Are they as good as they sound? Alice Rawsthorn on design.

SPORTS With a free-spending owner and no income tax, A.S. Monaco can vacuum up expensive players, an advantage that has angered the French soccer league. Sarah Lyall reports from Monaco.

At 35, Tommy Haas has lost years of his tennis career to injuries and has lost Grand Slam semifinals he was in position to win. But despite all the childhood sacrifices and adulthood setbacks he has never lost his passion for the game; for the feel of the ball coming off his strings; for the primal buzz of trying to impose his will and his true all-court game on the other, increasingly younger man across the net. Christopher Clarey on tennis.

South Africa Recalls the Birth of the Rainbow Nation

LONDON - In what must be a bittersweet memory for South Africans, Monday marks the 18th anniversary of a sporting triumph that heralded the birth of the Rainbow Nation.

On June 24, 1995, Nelson Mandela, the country's first black president, walked on to the field at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to present the World Rugby Cup to Francois Pienaar, the white captain of the national squad.

With a 15-12 win over New Zealand, the home team - the Springboks - secured victory in the first major sporting event to be held in South Africa after the end of apartheid.

For John Carlin, a British journalist and author who knows Mr. Mandela and has reported extensively from South Africa, “It was on that day that he captured the hearts of white South Africa.”

Happy memories of the triumph will inevitably be tempered by con cerns about the former president's health.

As the world awaited further bulletins on Monday on the 94-year-old Mr. Mandela after his condition was pronounced “critical,” the South African Press Association recalled the 1995 “moment of glory.”

“The nation united in prayer on hearing the news,” it wrote on Monday, “willing him to health in much the same way his presence had spurred the Springboks to a 15-12 victory in a game which united the nation for the first time at a major sporting event.”

Mr. Mandela took office the previous year as president of a country deeply divided by the years of anti-apartheid struggle. The rugby-crazy Afrikaner community was suspicious and even hostile about the advent of majority rule.

Black South Africans detested whites-only rugby as a symbol of an era of racial domination.

Mr. Mandela set out on the task of cementing national unity by persuading both sides of the ethnic divide that the Springboks were one team for one country.

According to Mr. Carlin, who has written about the political significance of the 1995 tournament and who inspired Morgan Freeman to star as Mr. Mandela in a film about it - Clint Eastwood's 2009 “Invictus” - the South African president faced the threat of terrorism from among the Afrikaner population when he took power.

That was why Mr. Mandela made black-white reconciliation the strategic priority of his first term.

“It was a Herculean political challenge,” according to Mr. Carlin, “but in the World Cup, to be played in South Africa a ye ar after he came to power, Mandela saw an opportunity not to be missed.”

South Africa not only went on to host the tournament, the Springboks also beat all expectations by taking the trophy in the first World Cup in which they had been allowed to compete.

As the BBC recalled some years later, “With white South Africans roaring on black Springbok, Chester Williams. . . . it was impossible not to begin to believe the ‘Rainbow Nation' could become a reality.”

No one expected everyday reality to entirely live up to the sports euphoria. But, as South Africa faces up to today's challenges, the Springbok victory remains a defining moment that underlined Mr. Mandela's unique political and human skills.

As a reader of The Sowetan commented on the newspaper's Web site: “What a day that was. Only a genius like our Madiba could unite a nation like ours, even if only for o ne glorious afternoon.”

South Africa Recalls the Birth of the Rainbow Nation

LONDON â€" In what must be a bittersweet memory for South Africans, Monday marks the 18th anniversary of a sporting triumph that heralded the birth of the Rainbow Nation.

On June 24, 1995, Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president, walked on to the field at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to present the World Rugby Cup to Francois Pienaar, the white captain of the national squad.

With a 15-12 win over New Zealand, the home team â€" the Springboks â€" secured victory in the first major sporting event to be held in South Africa after the end of apartheid.

For John Carlin, a British journalist and author who knows Mr. Mandela and has reported extensively from South Africa, “It was on that day that he captured the hearts of white South Africa.”

Happy memories of the triumph will inevitably be tempered by concerns about the former prsident’s health.

As the world awaited further bulletins on Monday on the 94-year-old Mr. Mandela after his condition was pronounced “critical,” the South African Press Association recalled the 1995 “moment of glory.”

“The nation united in prayer on hearing the news,” it wrote on Monday, “willing him to health in much the same way his presence had spurred the Springboks to a 15-12 victory in a game which united the nation for the first time at a major sporting event.”

Mr. Mandela took office the previous year as president of a country deeply divided by the years of anti-apartheid struggle. The rugby-crazy Afrikaner community was suspicious and even hostile about the advent of majority rule.

Black South Africans detested whites-only rugby as! a symbol of an era of racial domination.

Mr. Mandela set out on the task of cementing national unity by persuading both sides of the ethnic divide that the Springboks were one team for one country.

According to Mr. Carlin, who has written about the political significance of the 1995 tournament and who inspired Morgan Freeman to star as Mr. Mandela in a film about it â€" Clint Eastwood’s 2009 “Invictus” â€" the South African president faced the threat of terrorism from among the Afrikaner population when he took power.

That was why Mr. Mandela made black-white reconciliation the strategic priority of his first term.

“It was a Herculean political challenge,” according to Mr. Carlin, “but in the World Cup, to be played in South Africa a year after he came to power, Mandela saw an opportunity not to be missed.”South Africa not only went on to host the tournament, the Springboks also beat all expectations by taking the trophy in the first World Cup in which they had been allowed to compete.

As the BBC recalled some years later, “With white South Africans roaring on black Springbok, Chester Williams. . . . it was impossible not to begin to believe the ‘Rainbow Nation’ could become a reality.”

No one expected everyday reality to entirely live up to the sports euphoria. But, as South Africa faces up to today’s challenges, the Springbok victory remains a defining moment that underlined Mr. Mandela’s unique political and human skills.

As a reader of The Sowetan commented on the newspaper’s Web site: “What a day that was. Only a genius like our Madiba could unite a nation like ours, even if only for one glorious afternoon.”

IHT Quick Read: June 24

NEWS Edward J. Snowden arrived in Moscow on Sunday as American officials pressed Russia to turn him over and warned countries in Latin America not to harbor him or allow him passage. Peter Baker reports from Washington and Ellen Barry from Moscow.

Analysts said the Chinese government allowed the former National Security Agency contractor to leave Hong Kong to prevent a legal battle and maintain ties with the United States. Jane Perlez reports from Beijing and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said the police dismantled two criminal gangs involved in importing and distributing steroids, blood boosters and growth hormones. Raphael Minder reports from Madrid.

In one of the most brazen attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years, militants killed 10 tourists in the Himalayas and their Pakistani guide. Salman Masood and Declan Walsh report.

EDUCATION In recent years, schools in Britain, like those in the United States, have struggled under an increasing burden of testing and assessment designed to improve quality and to enforce some version of national standards. But education in Scotland has long been run differently from the rest of Britain. While schools in England encouraged students to specialize, Scottish schools traditionally aimed for a greater breadth of knowledge. D.D. Guttenplan writes from East Dunbarto! nshire, Scotland.

FASHION Miuccia Prada created an exotic world but with a sense that the men in tailored jackets over tropical shirts were up to no good. Suzy Menkes on the men’s wear collections in Milan.

ARTS Cycle Super Highways are under construction in Copenhagen, part of the Danish capital’s efforts to become carbon-neutral by 2025. Are they as good as they sound? Alice Rawsthorn on design.

SPORTS With a free-spending owner and no income tax, A.S. Monaco can vacuum up expensive players, an advantage that has angered the French soccer league. Sarah Lyall reports from Monaco.

At 35, Tommy Haas has lost years of his ennis career to injuries and has lost Grand Slam semifinals he was in position to win. But despite all the childhood sacrifices and adulthood setbacks he has never lost his passion for the game; for the feel of the ball coming off his strings; for the primal buzz of trying to impose his will and his true all-court game on the other, increasingly younger man across the net. Christopher Clarey on tennis.

Poll Finds Australians Uneasy About Chinese Investment

BEIJING â€" From American pig farms to Club Med and British yacht makers, China’s appetite for overseas investment is growing fast and diversifying. Governments and businesses are quick to praise the trend, but what do ordinary citizens think?

Australia is at the forefront of Chinese investment, and on Monday the Lowy Institute, a leading foreign policy research center in Sydney, released the results of a poll in which 57 percent of respondents said Australia was allowing too much investment from China, consistent with findings from previous years.

Chinese outbound investment increased to $77.22 billion in 2012, acording to the Dragon Index, the first index to track Chinese outbound investment globally, by A Capital, a private equity fund based in Brussels.

While Australia is popular, countries like the United States and Canada are catching up, according to a KPMG report, “Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia: Update March 2013.”

Most investment in Australia was in mining and gas, but paralleling a global trend it is diversifying into sectors like agriculture and real estate. Last month, State Grid Corp., China’s largest energy distributor, bought an $812 million stake in the Australian energy company SP AusNet.

Presented with foreign investment options from around the world including the Norwegian government investment fund a! nd U.S. corporations, respondents gave investments by Chinese state-owned enterprises the lowest rate of approval at 23 percent, in a different poll conducted in August 2012 by Essential Media, a strategic political consulting firm.

“Australians recognize the economic value of Chinese investments but are wary of their provenance and the poor transparency of Chinese state-run companies,” said Kerry Brown, executive director of the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney.

Perceptions have been negatively affected by high-profile cases in which the Chinese government detained Australian citizens born in China, said Alex Oliver, who headed up the Lowy poll this year. “I think Australians are wary of China’s human rights issues, its nondemocratic system and a completely different, unfamiliar society.”

Recent territorial disputes between China and its neighbors may be one reason 41 percent of Australians polled thoughtit was likely that China would become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years. Allegations of Chinese cyberhacking aimed at government organizations and major corporations in Australia have not helped perceptions.

Over all, it’s a bumpy ride for Chinese investment in Australia. Politicians and the news media are regularly accused of hyping anti-Chinese sentiment, with one conservative politician calling the decision last year to sell a cotton farm to Chinese and Japanese investors “a bloody disgrace.” High-profile mining deals have partly or fully fallen through, with notable examples including those between Chinalco and Rio Tinto in 2009, and between China Minmetals and OZ Minerals the same year. Out of concern for national security, the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been banned from tendering for government contracts for Australia’s National Broadband Network.

But many in the business community say there is a lot of ignorance and confusion when Australians talk about Chinese investment and China’s strategic motives.

“State owned does not mean state controlled,” said Doug Ferguson, head of the KPMG Australia China Business Practice. “Many of China’s state-owned companies that invest in Australia are driven by profitable growth, access to new markets to sell products and services, acquisition of intellectual property and a desire to learn, similar to American, French, Japanese and Korean companies.”

And it’s easy to forget that China is only the ninth-largest foreign direct investor in Australia. “There has been so much media hype about Chinese investment that no one seems to remember that Chinese investment accounts for just 3 percent of total foreign direct investent in Australia,” said Linda Jakobson, director of the Lowy Institute’s East Asia Program.

Attitudes also differ between sectors. While Australians might be more open to foreign investment in natural resources and the arts, the 2012 Lowy poll found that 81 percent of Australians were against the government allowing foreign companies to buy Australian farmland.

“It hits right at the Australian identity of Australia as a farming nation, an agricultural power harking back to its wool and beef trade,” Ms. Oliver said.

“These concerns about Chinese companies buying into the Australian agricultural sector are valid inasmuch as Chinese companies must do more themselves to shift these misunderstandings and misconceptions about their ownership,” Dr. Brown said.

Engagement might be one key to a broader understanding of investor motivations. The 2013 Lowy poll i! ndicated ! that people from Western Australia, the state that receives the most Chinese investment, were the least concerned about China as a military threat.

Chinese managing directors who speak good English, plan to have longer-term careers in Australia and understand Australian business culture are also ideal, Mr. Ferguson said. “Australia is a very sports crazy country, so it helps that Huawei and LiuGong have sponsored rugby league jerseys. It’s a similar strategy to what the Japanese do in Australia.”

“Changing Australian perceptions is a public diplomacy challenge for China. From time to time, Australians are reminded that China’s motivations might not be benign, “ Ms. Oliver said.

Yet despite some contradictory views in the poll that Australians had toward their country’s engagement with Asia, the vast majority of respondents, 87 percent, thought it was possible for Australia to have a good relationship with China and the United States at the same time.

“Australians are ery pragmatic towards China. From a business point of view, Australians are firmly attached to their hip pocket and they know which side their bread is buttered on,” Ms. Oliver said. “For that reason, it will be business as usual with China.”