Beijing, China (AHN) - China on Friday announced that it had destroyed a shipment of 41 live homing pigeons from the United States. Beijing's Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said it destroyed the birds last month after finding they didn't meet import standards and the number and description of birds did not match the shipping invoice.
Officials said that some of the birds were sick and the Bureau didn't think the problem could be remedied by observing the birds in quarantine, according to Central China Television reports.
Raising pigeons is popular in China where the birds are also served in restaurants.
The homing pigeons were seized at Beijing's airport, then killed and incinerated a month ago. It was the latest volley in rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China after several tainted Chinese products were recently pulled from American store shelves.
Britain's Guardian Unlimited reported Friday that it was unclear why Chinese officials waited until now to announce the homing pigeons had been destroyed last month.
China, with its growing economic dependence on the exports it sends around the world had watched helplessly as its tainted products were pulled from store shelves in the U.S. and elsewhere sparking questions about the safety of Chinese made products in general.
Toxic ingredients in medicine from China killed people in Panama. Then a poison ingredient in toothpaste from China resulted in pulling that from store shelves in the United States and Europe. In the meantime, the U.S. also banned Chinese shrimp and four kinds of fish after finding cancer-causing chemicals and other contaminants in them.
At about the same time, toys imported from China were found to be coated with lead paint that has been banned in the U.S. since the 1970's because it causes brain and kidney damage in children. Those toys were yanked from store shelves, as children's jewelry from China that contained lead had been removed from stores last year. Earlier this year the largest pet food recall ever was sparked by a tainted ingredient from China that killed many pets and sickened numerous others.
China finally began retaliating by suspending some U.S. pork and poultry imports after officials said they had disease concerns about some of the products.
At stake for China are billions of dollars its exports every year. But the recent problems with tainted Chinese products have fueled concerns about the United State's growing trade deficit with China. It now stands at $2 billion and many critics say it is only that high because Communist China is keeping its own currency artificially low to make its products unfairly cheap against world competition.
That has prompted Congress to consider import duties or penalties on Chinese imports if that nation doesn't allow its currency to float in value against the world's currencies, according to Guardian Unlimited reports.
Officials said that some of the birds were sick and the Bureau didn't think the problem could be remedied by observing the birds in quarantine, according to Central China Television reports.
Raising pigeons is popular in China where the birds are also served in restaurants.
The homing pigeons were seized at Beijing's airport, then killed and incinerated a month ago. It was the latest volley in rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China after several tainted Chinese products were recently pulled from American store shelves.
Britain's Guardian Unlimited reported Friday that it was unclear why Chinese officials waited until now to announce the homing pigeons had been destroyed last month.
China, with its growing economic dependence on the exports it sends around the world had watched helplessly as its tainted products were pulled from store shelves in the U.S. and elsewhere sparking questions about the safety of Chinese made products in general.
Toxic ingredients in medicine from China killed people in Panama. Then a poison ingredient in toothpaste from China resulted in pulling that from store shelves in the United States and Europe. In the meantime, the U.S. also banned Chinese shrimp and four kinds of fish after finding cancer-causing chemicals and other contaminants in them.
At about the same time, toys imported from China were found to be coated with lead paint that has been banned in the U.S. since the 1970's because it causes brain and kidney damage in children. Those toys were yanked from store shelves, as children's jewelry from China that contained lead had been removed from stores last year. Earlier this year the largest pet food recall ever was sparked by a tainted ingredient from China that killed many pets and sickened numerous others.
China finally began retaliating by suspending some U.S. pork and poultry imports after officials said they had disease concerns about some of the products.
At stake for China are billions of dollars its exports every year. But the recent problems with tainted Chinese products have fueled concerns about the United State's growing trade deficit with China. It now stands at $2 billion and many critics say it is only that high because Communist China is keeping its own currency artificially low to make its products unfairly cheap against world competition.
That has prompted Congress to consider import duties or penalties on Chinese imports if that nation doesn't allow its currency to float in value against the world's currencies, according to Guardian Unlimited reports.
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