In Beijing, however, China denied responsibility for the pet deaths.(Emphasis added.) This statement directly contradicts an earlier admission by employees of the Chinese firm Xuzhou Anying, previously identified as having manufactured the wheat gluten. We also learn that there are no (known) reports of tainted pet food in China itself.
The China Inspection and Quarantine Times said in a report on its website that as of March 29, China had "never exported wheat or wheat gluten to ... the United States."
Senator Dick Durbin has announced oversight hearings into the pet food industry. Let's pressure him to investigate the entire industry, which remains largely unregulated. The meat supply is of great concern, since "recycled" pets (euthanized cats and dogs) are tossed into the rendering vats, including tags and flea collars and plastic coverings. That's what your pet is eating when the label reads "meat and meat by-products."
Anderson Cooper of CNN carried an eyebrow-raising report:
The FDA now tells us it's investigating whether or not the contamination was intentional -- and profit-motivated.Disturbing. Still, I've so far seen no proof that melamine is the culprit.
Here's why:
The FDA says it's possible that melamine can be used to raise protein levels in wheat gluten. Higher protein levels make the wheat gluten more valuable.
And I would remind readers of my earlier piece which discussed the bizarre "fad" in China of intentional poisoning with tetramine, a rat poison known to cause renal failure among other illnesses. Not many years ago, a disgruntled cafeteria worker in Shanxi province used tetramine to send 86 school kids to the hospital.
Can we be sure that Xuzhou Anying has never had a disgruntled worker?
Follow the jump; this is where the story gets really weird. Not only do we have a name for the mysterious importer, but...
Well, would you believe a possible connection to DARPA?
(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)
The importer identified: Previous articles (including one written by yours truly) raised the possibility that Archer-Daniels Midland imported the tainted wheat gluten, since the other major importers had denied any dealings with China. However, some fine journalistic sleuthing by the Las Vegas Review Journal has uncovered indications that the mysterious-unnamed firm might be the little-known ChemNutra of Las Vegas.
From their web site:
ChemNutra imports quality ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed, food and pharma industries. We are a professionally managed, American owned company experienced in negotiating, securing and delivering ultra-competitive pricing on high-quality chemicals and ingredients from quality-assured manufacturers in China. We bridge the business and cultural gaps…including all regulatory, compliance, import and transportation requirements.Note that these guys do not just sell to pet food companies. This summary from Molly's Blog indicates that the game is afoot:
We specialize in Taurine, L-Cysteine, Glycine, Vital Wheat Gluten, and Glucuronolactone, and we also handle many other ingredients.
To say the least they find this outfit rather shady. The company's office in Los Vegas has only an address (and a locked door). No business name. The company has a business licence in Nevada but hasn't filed for incorporation in that state. It is presently incorporated in California and Deleware (tax laws I guess). The company claims a 12 year relationship with Chinese companies, but its earliest incorporation was in Delaware in 2003 (California 2005). The company has "surrendered" its incorporation to transact business in California. The company shipped product from the Xuzhou Anying company in China from Nov 9th, 2006 until March 8th, 2007 when it claimed to have learned from Menu Foods that its product was suspected as the source of the pet food contamination.Who are these guys? And why would the FDA protect them by refusing to name them? From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
ChemNutra's Web site lists Stephen and Sally Miller as its principals.Stephen Miller. Hmm. He seems to be the same guy whose resume is given here:
Stephen Miller's online biography said that he has more than 20 years' experience in business management, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and law.
He listed tenures as a vice president with Smith Barney and E.F. Hutton in his biography, and he added that he worked as an investment officer at Citibank. His biography cited degrees in law and business administration from Columbia University and said he is licensed to practice law in New York.
Sally Miller's biography said that she has more than 12 years of experience as a quality-assurance manager and purchasing manager in China, where she worked for multinational companies.
Stephen Miller, CEO & Founder, NetExchange Stephen Miller is CEO and founder of NetExchange, Inc., which offers the next generation of outsourced e-mail and collaboration services for businesses. The company's patent-pending technology delivers flexible outsourced tools for the individual and work group communication with the control and security of an expensive in-house solution. He was previously a vice president at Smith Barney and a vice president at EF Hutton.That was posted in 1999. A follow-up post from 2005 reveals that Miller was, by then, the CEO of Chem-Nutra. The Google trail reveals damn little about this "NetExchange, Inc." I did find this research paper, which may be related: "We want to thank NetExchange Inc. and DARPA for financial support..."
DARPA? Freakin' DARPA? (That's the Defense Research Projects Agency.)
I'm not sure if that is the same NetExchange. But I'd like to know more about Stephen Miller, importer of the wheat gluten that China says it never exported.
29 comments:
The Net Exchange involved with DARPA is likely to have been this one -- presumably not the same as NetExchange, Inc.:
July 29, 2003
A San Diego company is working with the Pentagon on a futures market that would allow anonymous speculators to bet on assassinations and terrorist attacks.
The online market, which is set for a trial launch on Friday, is meant to help the government predict political and economic events in eight Middle East countries. Traders would buy contracts that would pay off if, for example, the Jordanian government were overthrown in the fourth quarter of 2004. . . .
The idea, called the Policy Analysis Market, is being developed by Net Exchange, a San Diego consulting firm that has created market systems for such companies as Sears, Roebuck and Co. The market will be managed by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA. . . .
Net Exchange was founded in San Diego in 1994 by a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology. Polk received his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1993 and John Ledyard, the company's chairman and chief executive, is a professor of economics at the university and chairman of the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Never exported wheat or wheat gluten to the US? Could it be a situation similar to the powdered milk scandal of last year? The powdered milk scandal was where commodities brokers and middlemen stepped in to deplete the heaping stockpiles of powdered milk at ever-increasing profits (due to farm subsidies).
Were the sales laundered sufficiently such that China can officially demonstrate they didn't ship anything directly to the US? Or did they just decide to coverup their involvement?
Strange, strange, strange.
I couldn’t follow most of the financial-auction theory stuff in the paper but the business model looks pretty clear. It speak of creating a “dynamic and fluid spot markets for bandwidth trading”.
This sounds a lot like the bandwidth trading fiasco that Enron was involved with before everyone found out it was all smoke and mirrors.
I may well be wrong, but at this moment, I lean toward the idea that the two NetExchanges are one and the same. I mean, we are talking about two IT-related consulting firms incorporated in California which came on the scene at the same time. I'm not sure it would be legal for two companies in the same (or related) fields to use the same name. On the other hand, I've heard that same-name firms can go for months before they straighten out the problems of nomenclature.
Hey Joe-
You've mentioned several times that pet food includes the rendered bodies of euthanized pets- collars and all. Do you have any support for this assertion? It sounds like the stuff of urban legend to me.
Thanks...
DS
I'm not sure it would be legal for two companies in the same (or related) fields to use the same name.
It's not
You've mentioned several times that pet food includes the rendered bodies of euthanized pets- collars and all. Do you have any support for this assertion? It sounds like the stuff of urban legend to me.
I don't know about rendered bodies, but I checked the label on an old bag of Kibbles n' Bits I found in the back of my pantry the other day, (my dogs wouldn't eat it, thank God) and I found Animal Digest. If that isn't information enough to start cooking a little doggie meat loaf everyday, as I do, then at least buy the poor little dears some quality beef jerky.
Actually, there are lots of places on the net where you can read about rendered ex-pets in your pet food:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Does-Your-Dog-Food-Include-Euthanized-Dogs?&id=507228
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0106-03.htm
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1018127&nav=23iiCT4S
Look up the works of Ann V. Martin:
http://www.thepowermall.com/thecenterforhealth/bio/ann_martin.htm
Speaking of Ann martin, here is the classic piece that first aroused my attention:
http://www.thepowermall.com/thecenterforhealth/bio/ann_martin.htm
When we found Bella as a stray (Bella stars in the cartoons adorning this site), I decided to research the food issue. I came across a version of that piece -- and it hit like a hammer.
I found a couple of 1999 articles on Stephen Miller's Net Exchange that gave the URL as www.nx.com. Checking that out at the Internet Archive, I found that the domain seems to have gone through several hands, with the first use by Net Exchange being from March 2, 2000. The Our People page says of Miller:
Prior to his involvement in Net Exchange, he was CEO of MediMax, Inc., a $40 million company which securitized healthcare receivables and provided medical receivables financing to hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers. He was previously a Vice President at Smith Barney and a Vice President at EF Hutton.
Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University, and MBA and law degrees from Columbia University. He has also served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Finance at New York University.
The last active archived page from Net Exchange is December 2, 2000. Then, after a long gap, there's a saying, "SORRY! Net Exchange, Inc. is no longer in business. Net Exchange's assets were purchased out of bankruptcy by Archematics Inc."
Googling on Archematics leads to a page here which states:
03-30-2002, 03:57 PM
How much is NetExchange.com worth?
It cannot be used for a financial services company, because of a competing trademark.
However, for purposes other than financial services we have IP protection for using it. We bought it in a bankruptcy purchase of all the assets of Net Exchange, Inc., which operated since 1996 and went out of business in fall of 2000.
I think it's a good name for a company, and/or for a product in Internet services, information exchanges, etc.
Any thoughts about valuation?
Steve Miller
Archematics, Inc.
According to this page, nx.com is still owned by Archematics, Inc. of 45-2301 River Drive So, Jersey City, NJ 07310 but is apparently being used by nexon.co.kr in Korea. (Can you sublet a domain name?)
And, oh yes, securitizing healthcare receivables is apparently just as dirty a business as you'd expect from its name.
Hey, starroute, buried in that info is this: "Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University..."
From which we might infer Miller is one of the LDS Bush faithfuls. Certainly his business activities reek of Republican parasitism.
We don't KNOW that yet, uni -- although lots and lots of people are wondering why the FDA declined to identify ChemNutra for so long. That IS suspicious.
I have a couple of feelers out, but I still don't know if the DARPA-connected NetExchange was the same as Miller's former company.
I really want to thank all the participants here for the great research. Outstanding jobs, all of you.
Those bios of Steve and Sally Miller seem too good to be true. Their very names are a little too ubiquitous not to be suspicious.
If you look at the bios another way, the same credentials could be used for a pimp and a street drug dealer.
You have to ask yourself: Would a real, experienced entreprenuer even innocently have let the California license lapse or a real marketing professional operate a building out of a building with no shingle at all?
In regard to the use of euthanized animals in pet food:
Joe, you provided links that simply repeat the assertion that pets are recycled into pet food, but offer NO authority for this statement.
The closest thing you've got is the FDA report which found the presence of the euthanizing drug in pet food...but the explanation that it results from euthanized horses and cows is more likely, as this DOES in fact happen on farms, and these "downed" animals, while unfit for human consumption, are processed into pet food. So there you have a certain, distinct, known source for the drug.
You seem to think that if you make an assertion, and then find other sources that simply repeat that assertion, you've proven your case.
Not so.
Ah, we now play the casuist's favorite game of moving the goal posts when it comes to standards of evidence. A series of links to a (well-reviewed and respected) book and to a television news series and to various newspaper articles would suffice in most instances. Usually, a blogger is asked to provide but a single link to buttress a data point.
Use Google and you will see that my own set of links merely scratched the surface. You provide no evidence that the many journalists who have exposed the use of rendered animals all relied on a single source.
No pet food company has denounced the work of Ann Martin. No pet food company has, to my knowledge, ever threatened to sue the television stations and publishers which reported this information. No pet food company has even disagreed with published reports of euthanized animals, although the better food companies offer assurances that THEY would never use such a meat source.
If such reports reports were untrue, you can bet your ass that Purina and company would be doing everything they could to combat the misperceptions, which has affected pet food sales.
As I recall, I even linked to one story which showed what happened when one rendering plant stopped accepting euthanized pets. (Did I include that link? If not, just do a little googling and you'll find the piece.)
Good leads, starroute.
We at On Our Radar are interested in this New Jersey angle. A check of that address lends little so far but we're still searching.
This confirms the Miller/Archematics link to nx.com and seems to say nx.com is a Japanese company. The only Korean tie is the, as you say, seeming subcontracted web address to a .kr Korean server. The Alexa page for the Japanese company tied to Miller seems to show pretty high traffic and its whois shows these current metalinks: NEXON, Elancia, The Kingdom of the Winds, Quizquiz, quiz, AmiChat, Chat, Massive Online Game, massive, multiplayer, MOG, DARK AGES, LEGEND OF DARKNESS, NEXUS, NEXIA, Tactical Commanders, Elemental Saga, Cosmo Nova, Cube, GAME, DOWNLOAD, SCREEN SHOT, RPG, ONLINE GAME, NETWORK.
Do any of these gaming sites ring a bell as having been accused of online or telephone billing frauds? Maybe someone here knows someone in Japan who can give context on those sites.
The other page it links to via the Jersey City address is the San Diego Chargers page of a sports fan apparel company out of Jacksonville, Fla. Nx.com's Jersey address apparently is on some page that isn't public but is connected to San Diego vending.
Is San Diego in the congressional district of the disgraced Rep. Duke Cunningham and the fired US attorney Carol Lamm?
Also, earlier you mentioned Archer-Daniel Midlands, hq in Decatur, IL, in the potential network in the pet poison trail. Anyone else wonder if it's just coincidence Miller's former company was Archematics?
These three cities in coastal US states involved have been on our radar in the past for heavy federal intelligence service involvements. That could just be coincidence.
Oh, and being Jersey City also is where those men alternately called Muslims and Israeli art students were seen cheering atop their white van as the second plane hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, it caught my eye that the original Net Exchange Inc page says: For further information, please contact Stephen Miller (ssm@nyc.rr.com) or Mohammed Shaalan (mshaalan@fekra.com). fekra.com is an FTP site. What does that mean? Mohammed Shaalan seems like a rather common name.
There are an amazing number of people who run businesses that look like a big deal on paper, but are run out of their home offices, and in the case of the Millers, perhaps with low paid warehouse staff in China. Computers have eliminated an office full of accounting staff, etc. For those who think that the Millers might be big entrepreneurs, note that the Miller's live in a home they purchased in Las Vegas for under $500K in 2006, not a mansion in today's home values in the west.
A search shows that Stephen S. Miller filed for Chapter 7 in bankruptcy court in NY federal court in 2001, when he resided at 8 Gramercy Park So, New York. It was discharged (roughly meaning approved…). A reputable research tool shows enough markers (info) that a reasonable person would assume that Stephen S. Miller associated with ChemNutra is the same as this person in the NY bankruptcy.
We assume that Sally Miller is his wife; her name appears on Lexis as Qing Miller. They have shared the same addresses for a few years. If you read her bio at she is called Sally Qing Miller:
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Miller_Sally_548935233.aspxor
"Sally has over 12 years of experience in China as QA Manager and Purchasing Manager, working for various multinational companies who imported and exported chemicals worldwide. As purchasing manager, she was responsible for purchasing and exporting over $100 million of feed, food and pharma ingredients worldwide."
"Sally earned an MBA from City University in Seattle, as well as Engineering degree in Food Chemical Engineering at Hanzhou Institute of Commerce in Hanzhou, China. She is a member of the Institute for Supply Management in the US, and the China Food Ingredients Association in China. She is certified as an ISO 9000 Chief Auditor."
City Univ. in Seattle degree could have been earned online. Anyone can join the Institute for Supply Mgmt. if they claim not to be in sales and promise not to attempt to sell during any ISM events ($155/yr membership for NV residents).
The research tool also shows that Stephen Miller and "Qing Miller" also filed for a corp. in CA (subsequently dissolved) in 2000 called XLALL, Inc., which they listed at an address that they both claimed at 545 S. Los Robles Ave. Apt. 7, Pasadena CA 91101, in 2000. This address also shows up for ChemNutra.
In the early '90s, Stephen Miller started up a company called Medimax Receivables in NY (a DE corp). It's corp. status was revoked. (If you look this up, don't confuse it with Medimax, a FL co run by a character named Rothbart, that was sued criminally by the US DOJ; I got all excited but his is a different co.)
It sounds as if Miller is most likely a common opportunist who picked up a Chinese "entrepreneur" to marry along the way, moving from spot to spot as people start asking too many questions. Still, what if .... ?
I'm somewhat familiar with both the Manhattan address in the Stephen Miller bankruptcy in 2001 (what month, anonymous?) and the Jersey City address in current use online. The addresses are 5 miles apart, straight across the Holland Tunnel, which is within a mile of Liberty State Park on the same Jersey City shore of the Hudson River. Liberty State Park is where those Israeli "movers" cheered as planes crashed into the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001. All, including the owner of the Jersey City "moving company" scrammed to Israel and the White House made the Jersey FBI branch close the case.
That 45-2301 River Drive So address in Jersey City is essentially ON the pier. Huge new condos and a yuppy classy business district are directly above the pier about one-fifth mile. The Gramercy Park address is a block off Park Ave. South and not a cheap area to have a home. For what it's worth, it also has a significant Japanese population. If this takes, here is a map.
The website using that address, though, seems to be connected to the online gaming businesses. Do you suppose an Atlantic port would be used to import any of the pet food stuff?
Obviously, the map didn't quite take, but you can take my word for the directions.
Jeez, I am so grateful for all the research here.
The big question for me is whether the NetExchange connected to DARPA and CalTech (started, in fact, by a couple of CalTech profs) is the same one that Miller ran. That's why I was particularly intrigued to learn that Miller was running a business out of an apartment in Pasadena.
In fact, the address you give is literally within walking distance of CalTech! And not a long walk, either.
So. Is it possible that there were TWO businesses called NetExchange operating so close to each other? Such a thing is possible, but it does not seem very likely.
So now we come back to the big questions. Why was the FDA so reticent to name Miller's company?
What is the nature of Miller's company? Is it real? Or was he functioning as a "beard" for someone else?
Why is China so adamant that it did not sell wheat gluten to the U.S.?
This is a strange tale indeed!
As far as the Korean use of the nx.com domain name goes, "The Kingdom of the Winds" is notable enough to have an extensive Wikipedia entry, here:
Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds (Korean:바람의 나라), alternately known as Nexus TK or simply Nexus, is an MMORPG, currently run in the US by Kru Interactive. Nexus began as a U. S. version of the Korean game 바람의 나라 (Baram) developed by NEXON Inc. of Korea, and is loosely based on Korean mythology and on a series of graphic novels by an artist named Kim Jin.
My guess would be that Nexon was interested in acquiring nx.com, for obvious reasons, but Miller was not willing to sell it to them outright. There doesn't seem to be any reason to assume a connection beyond that.
New Jersey is a whole other matter, however. I have a pile of files relating to sinister characters in New Jersey, ranging from alleged 9/11 hijackers to dubious exporters of nuclear-related technology -- not to mention fascinating but seemingly unverifiable claims (mainly by Sherman Skolnik and Wayne Madsden) that Chertoff and Alito were involved in covering up Mossad-related illegal dealings when Alito was the US Attorney there and Chertoff his chief aide.
Joe-
Thank you for proving my point regarding euthanized pets. You seem to think that if there are enough links to a certain train of thought, it must be true.
It's not about "moving goalposts,"...it's about what is FACT and what is often-repeated speculation. Learn the difference.
anon, get the fuck off of my site. I don't know what your angle is, although I suspect it is a simple matter of refusing to admit when you are wrong. The news reports are many. There is a book that has gone unchallenged. The interested parites have not disputed the info. The links are numerours and they do NOT go to one source. They came at the story from many different angles and rely on numerous in the field sources.
But if you are of a mind to do so, you can call ANY fact into question, if you argue in sufficiently bad faith. That's how the Creationists get their foot in the door.
Follow up to research: I don't see any NJ addresses for the Stephen S. Miller that has the same birthdate/partial SS# -- I emphasize partial as the research tool does not list full SS#s -- as the person of the same name that is associated with ChemNutra, Medimax, and more important, with Qing Miller (with whom he owns the LV property).
"Get the fuck off my site." There it is! Take your ball and go home...oh, and use a LITTLE common sense with your "research"- why would the pet food industry give any credibility to an idiotic urban legend by denying it (the lack of which you keep citing as proof of the fact).
urban legends are not substantiated by interviews with people who work at rendering plants, as was the case witht he stories I cited. TV news outlets and newspapers and publishers are wary of lawsuits. The chances of all of them taking that sort of legal risk is vanishingly small. And companies respond to health concerns -- even ones that are truly absurd urban legends -- all the time.
I don't know your angle, but you appear to be a lunatic. Every other blogger considers citing a single reputable news account sufficient. I cited many, and a book, all of which are unrefuted.
Now fuck off.
I'm beginning to thing the megaphonies are trying to get my goat again, using a new approach. You know, when a story fetches few or no comments, I feel odd. But sometimes I'd RATHER fetch few or no comments.
Over the last 2 years there have been scores of cases of food tampering by manufacturers. In each case, where a perpetrator is caught, it has been an undocumented mexican. Those cases are prosecuted as felonies. This is a conspiracy, Retaliation for the US failure to grant amenesty to illegals. They have switched to pet food because they feel that if caught, the penalties will not be so severe. This is only the beginning.
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