Voices for Voices®

How a Global Supply Chain Crisis is Impacting Your Health | Episode 179

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 179

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How a Global Supply Chain Crisis is Impacting Your Health | Episode 179

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Chapter Markers
0:02 Supply Chain and Product Health

15:48 Global Supply Chain Quality Concerns

27:29 Global Product Traceability and Consumer Impact

How does the global supply chain impact your everyday life and well-being? We promise that by the end of this episode, you'll have a deeper understanding of the intricate web that connects what you consume to its source, and why that connection matters more than you might think. We embark on a journey through the world of global manufacturing, shining a light on the origins of the products we rely upon, from the food we eat to the technology we use. The stakes are high—quality control, ingredient safety, and transparency are not just buzzwords; they're essential to protecting our health. We urge you to become a more conscious consumer, aware of the broader implications of your purchasing decisions.

The conversation doesn't stop at consumer awareness; it also delves into the geopolitical landscape that shapes the very products you bring into your home. With a keen focus on countries like China, we explore how international relationships, such as that between the US and China, influence product safety and standards. Recent regulatory updates, including bans on harmful dyes, serve as reminders of the ongoing need for vigilance and oversight. This episode isn't just about tracing the path of goods—it's about understanding how that path affects you and your community. As we navigate these complex dynamics, we aim to equip you with the knowledge to make informed choices in a globalized market.

The episode highlights the significant impact of global supply chains on our everyday health. It addresses concerns regarding product sourcing, quality control, and the hidden health implications of consuming imported goods, urging listeners to become more educated and vigilant consumers.

• The critical role of supply chains in health and safety
• The pressure on businesses to reduce costs impacting product quality
• Variations in regulations between countries affecting consumer safety
• Emphasizing the need for transparency in product sourcing
• Raising awareness about responsible consumption and its impact on health

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Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Allen Hayes. Thank you for joining us today. We are very grateful for you joining us. Whether you're watching or listening or reading our transcripts, we are again grateful to have you with us. We are marching towards that total show of 300 for that we going to hit by the end of 2025 here, so we're excited to be filming additional episodes in different places and just love sharing information with you to try to help go towards that goal of helping 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, in which we don't know exactly which individuals or where they're at, but we know that experiences are reaching far and wide 50 countries, 530 cities. We're really just blown away.

Justin Alan Hayes:

When we started this, we didn't know. We didn't know where it would be, where it would go, and here we are. So for this episode, we're going about being healthy, not being, you know, a thousand percent, watching every single thing that we eat, or watch every single thing that we purchase, because this isn't just about being healthy as an individual, as a human. You know what we consume food, drink. This is also about things we buy. So this camera that you're watching on was more than likely manufactured somewhere other than the United States of America. Just like we have our, our phones right, there's lots of components that go into them. Not all components are manufactured in the United States of America, which what we're talking about here for this episode. It could be your country, your home country if you don't live in the United States of America. Home country if you don't live in the United States of America, things that you consume that are manufactured, made in your home country. That's really what this is about. So this we talk about this really on two fronts. So we have the supply chain, so I have an OtterBox case on my iPhone and there are different components, parts that go into making those two products here for our discussion, and so that means, right, we don't have control over it as a country, 100%.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We believe that what we are purchasing is indeed what the title of the product, the description, and then the components that go into that, and so we kind of it's just one of those subconscious things where we just assume that that's that's the case and sometimes that's not the case, or sometimes parts, materials, components are not made in the the highest quality, and that can mean a bunch of things. Excuse me, but for this purpose, when we're talking about made in the best quality, that that that can mean right, there's quality control. Right, there's supposed to be these governing bodies that are supposed to be checking, making sure, if three particular ingredients are in that particular product, that those three ingredients are indeed in those products. If there's two, that there's two. Not just that there's two, but it's the two that are laid out in the packaging. Or online, if we're doing an e-commerce purchase, which a lot of the things that we consume, that we eat, or even you know this beautiful, wonderful Voices for Voices t-shirt, is not made in the United States, and so, again, I'm assuming that you know the cotton, and then, if there's other materials that go into the t-shirt, that that's what they are, that they can't hurt me, and so that's kind of where we're going with this. Are the things that are said to be in the T-shirt the iPhone, the OtterBox, the camera? Are those indeed the case? Not the case? Talking about OtterBox, I see how that goes. It sometimes happens, but then are they healthy? And I'm not talking about 100% healthy, as I mentioned at the outset I'm talking about. They're not going to hurt us, they're not going gonna cause us great bodily harm. That that's what we're really driving at.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And when we source fancy word source was where we bring many components or a couple components together to make a thing, to make an outer box case, to make an iphone when those are made outside of our home country, we don't have control over that supply chain. We may have control over ordering the components, such as I'm going to order 3,000 components because I'm going to make 3,000 phones. That would be an example. So when those 3,000 components do arrive, that those 3,000 components are exactly what we, as you know, let's say a purchasing department that we, that's what we ordered, right and when we we not for complete oversight of every single thing, but there are things right that you, we talk about, food and drink and those, those things we ingest and those things could be harmful to us just because it's in a pretty package, because the logo is a logo that we have seen many times before or we've heard about, we've seen a commercial, we've heard friends, family members, significant others, friends, family members, significant others and so we just assume that, well, that's what we're getting.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So there's that healthy meaning we're going to continue to live side. You know talking about the food products but just as easily there could be some types of components, materials, that could go into clothing that could still have a injuring effect on the body right, it's right against our skin, and so if there is something that's not supposed to be there within the t-shirt, that could blend in and soak into our skin, into our blood, and you can see where, where things go. So that supply chain is. So that supply chain is really the goal of what we're really getting at tonight, today, because we want everybody to be healthy, we want everybody to survive as long as humanly possible. And I can say, you know, as of living here in the United States, again, from the shirt that I'm wearing to the case that's on my phone, to the camera that is filming and recording there are a lot of products that are made in China and a lot of that comes down to cost.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We, as consumers, we have grown accustomed to inexpensive products and services and we can look at our mom-and-pop shop pricing versus our big box pricing and when we see that difference, ultimately, at the end of the day, it's about convenience for the big box, because there's lots of products and services there. And then it's about quantity. They're purchasing in much larger quantities. They're able to get price reductions, larger quantities that are able to get price reductions. And so the supply chain of product A versus product B is really something that it would take a lot of time as us individuals to really dig into. It takes a lot of time to research these things right. You, you put the name of the product and then you put all the ingredients and then where each ingredient was sourced from, whether that's the country or the state or territory or province, and easily we can.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We can see that there there's a lot of sourcing of components, of materials and ingredients that are outside our country. So we can move on, you know, from this health type of discussion to the supply chain of the products, whether we ingest them or we eat them, whether we drink water, drink a soda, drink an alcoholic beverage I don't consume alcohol anymore, but that's beside the point and so these ingredients are coming from all over the place in search of having in the mind's eye, having the best product and service at the lowest cost, and sometimes, oftentimes that comes, those components, that final product, does not come from our home country. That's just the way it is and I don't think there's really an argument on that. We understand that, but we still continue to search for that lower and lower and lower and lower and lower cost product and service. Not really as concerned as we should be, for not only the working conditions, but how much control a government this case, a lot of products. T-shirt made in China.

Justin Alan Hayes:

China is an adversary of the United States and of other countries around the world. We love our Chinese followers, our listeners, our viewers. We love all our viewers and all our listeners and all the readers of our transcript. But regardless, we're foes. Right standpoint you know when wars break out, and whether those are trade wars or military wars, or you know intelligence gathering and spying, and all those other countries do that. All countries do that on some level or another. And so when we have and right, this is a deeper discussion as we're talking we have, you know, we have friends, but even our friends at some point could still be competitors. You know product A versus product B the label might be a little bit a different color, the logo might be a little different, but we still can be competitors. And so we can think of it like that with you know, here in the US and put their own China, just as an example.

Justin Alan Hayes:

There's products and services made and components made all over the world, but we just know that there's a lot, lot made and a lot of sourcing. It's coming from China. So that supply chain where we're searching for the lowest cost and the best quality when an adversary is making and having components that go in or the final product comes from an adversary, there could be a big problem with the supply chain, big problem with the supply chain. And we're not going to talk about all the products and services and food and drink out there, but just suffice to say that there's a lot of products and services and foods and vitamins. That's another area, right? So take a multivitamin or take a vitamin C, vitamin D. Where are those elements, where are those components sourced from?

Justin Alan Hayes:

Again, it's under the same banner of want the best quality at the least expensive price, so we want to pay less for a product, but yet we're searching and seeking the results of what we're looking for. So we're looking for vitamin C, we're looking to help boost that immunity. We're not looking to ingest chemicals, dyes, so forth, and so that's a big thing, right? I think so. I'm 43 years old and it's very. It's mind-boggling, when we look at it around the house or around the dorm or around the condo or apartment, how many things we have, number one. But then where are all those things coming from? So we just got to be cognizant of that as an individual. So whether you live in the United States or not, it doesn't matter your home country, that's really what we're looking at. So you'd be more, I'd say, more happy, more comfortable knowing products and components of those are 100% sourced in your country, just as I'm talking here in the United States.

Justin Alan Hayes:

The same thing, that that's really what we're, what we're getting at. And when we bring, you know, other elements from other companies, other countries, other other areas, maybe they have the same quality processes in place, maybe they don't, and that's just one area. So if they don't have the quality processes in place, that could potentially mean that some of those components, elements or ingredients may not be healthy or the healthiest the best that there could be, maybe even if they're not looking for it to be dangerous, but it could be. And then when we layer on top of that, if the home country is a foe or a competitor's, call it to where those products and services that those are being exported to, such as here in the united states. So product services, product components, ingredients come from china, the united states.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Whether we assemble them here in the United States or whether they come together, they're coming off the boat, off the plane, off the train, off the truck, and we really hope that the quality controls are happening at every step of the way. But, just as life is, that's not always the case, and so that's a concern, why I wanted to put this content out, that we should keep our eyes out. And so we have rfk. Right, he's coming in and he's looking at foods and ingredients and we look at, he's looking at coca-cola, and coca-cola is a huge organization, and if you look at the ingredients in a coca-cola in Europe versus here in United States, you're gonna find ingredients here in the United States that you wouldn't find on the label in Europe, and so that's really where we're going with this.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So the least amount of ingredients, depending on what it is right. It's not really about the least amount of ingredients. It's about those ingredients being pure and as organic and yeah, I mean as pure as they can be, and we start adding ingredients that. Look at your shampoo, look at your label there, see how many ingredients are in your shampoo. How many ingredients have more than five or ten letters in them? How many are we able to actually say there's a lot of ingredients on a lot of different products that I don't know quite how to say them correctly, and so that's a problem. It's a big problem. And so the RFK comes in, he's searching, he wants people to be as healthy as can be, and so, even before he's come into the administration, red dye was banned here in the United States. It can no longer be used in products. So I'm guessing that there was something bad about red dye. That wasn't exactly on the up and up, exactly on the up and up, but it was being used in a lot of different products, potentially foods, drinks, and so that was really the alarm bell.

Justin Alan Hayes:

You know, we can, you know, have those discussions about vaccine, no vaccine, this, and that this discussion is not bad. This discussion, you know we're talking about supply chains and who has control over them. If a product is 95% made in China, then that means that the home country of China has 95% control over that product, the labeling and all those things. And we have in our home country 5%, which is the unloading off of the truck and then the purchasing, opening and consuming that product or whether we're wearing it. We're talking about t-shirts here. So it's important that we have these discussions.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Some of you might not want to hear it and it's not the most glamorous thing to talk about, but I think our health and well-being we really need to think about that. We're talking about competitors on a global scale US and China, us and Vietnam or wherever, wherever these products and and you know, there could be rare earth metals that are in certain countries that aren't in our home country. So we may have no other choice but to purchase those rare earth metals and some of them, I believe, go into mobile phones. But having some oversight on that would not necessarily be a bad thing, because I think we could all agree that we value ourselves and our families and our children, our nephews and nieces, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles. You know the whole board. You know we really have a concern that what we're consuming, what we're wearing, is not going to hurt us, is not going to hurt us. It's not having the oversight of a country, an organization that has those ulterior motives and I've taught marketing and business for many years. The goal of an organization and business is to make money, period, full stop. So the way organizations make money year over year is they have to reduce costs. So that could be reducing the quality of the product in many different ways. That could be adding a couple fillers here and there.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Again, we'll talk about on a future episode about how there is still another layer, layer on onto this. So be on the lookout for kind of the second part of this, this episode, because it's important to cover. We're getting close to time and I don't want to leave it out. It's just that important. So we want to have as much control, oversight of the products. Just, you know whether and whether it's food, drink, whether it's clothing, whether you know where we live. You know the asbestos is a was a huge problem, got a lot of people, a lot of people really sick over the years, and so we just we just need to know about this and I think banning that red dye was a big step in that direction here in the United States.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And there could be big things and there are big things happening in your home country that are most important and really important. But maybe your country is importing a lot of different products and foods and ingredients from other countries as well. That's why we're having this conversation is to just lay it on the table and think about it. That could hurt individuals, whether that's right, then, or whether that is over the course of time where the traceability might be a little bit tougher. So that's really where we're at here.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So we talked about the health, the supply chain, that our products aren't wholly in our hands from a supply chain that, in the United States, a lot's coming from China, a lot's coming from other countries overseas, but we, as a consumer, we've been demanding lower costs, lower costs, lower costs.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And are we at that breaking point where that's starting to hurt us as a human population that we're such a hunger, a thirst for the almighty dollar, the almighty euro, the almighty yen, whatever your currency is, and that's what we really need to think about and why we're talking about this. So for us to ban red dye, that's huge. Any way we can make a step in a positive direction, that's also huge. Any way we can make a step in a positive direction, that's also huge. Very, very important things to do that might be more important or less important to you or me, but it was important to have this conversation just to talk about that supply chain, how we don't always have control over that and that could maybe in the end hurt us, especially again from competitors that in the end they may be trying to hurt us. So let's hope that's not the case.

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