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1/13/2009
How safe are your brake pads?
There are no mandatory Canadian standards for replacement brake pads.
And that's a big problem according to Rick Jamieson, with ABS Friction Corporation of Guelph, Ontario. He says cheap pads break into pieces during panic stops.
Jamieson says we're getting huge amounts of Chinese product dumped into Canada and a lot of the imports aren't safe. He says cheap imports ultimately result in a lot of car accidents that people don't realize were caused by the brake pads.
Ray Arbesman, chairman of Toronto-based Nucap Industries, says brakes have become the leading cause of car fires. Nucap makes steel backing plates that hold brake-pad friction materials.
At its testing centre, it found out of every 1000 pads it checked, at least 5 pads were completely separated from the steel and some ignited.
Arbesman says imports from China and elsewhere look as good as North American-made pads but nobody knows what's inside. (The Canadian Press, ccg)
On the Net:
ABS Friction Corporation: Jobber News
(China-Tainted-Products)
A Canadian living in the eastern Chinese city Suzhou has publicized reports on his blog that more than a dozen dogs who ate Optima brand dog food died from aflatoxin poisoning.
Ryan McLaughlin says his 1-year-old golden retriever, Addie, fell sick and died January 5th after eating Optima.
A Chinese distributor of the popular brand of dog food says it suspended sales of the product following reports dogs that ate it died from poisoning. China's recent food safety scandals have centred on locally made products; this time it wasn't immediately clear whether the product was locally made or imported.
It isn't clear who makes the Optima brand involved in the complaints. An Optima brand of pet food is made by Doane International Pet Products LLC, based in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Mars acquired the Brentwood-based Doane Pet Care Enterprises in 2006.
US-based Mars, the world's largest chocolate-seller and the maker of several pet foods, denies involvement but says it is investigating the reports from China. (The Associated Press, ccg)
On the Net:
Ryan McLaughlin's blog: The Humanaught.com
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