Mattel has recalled 9 million toys made in China because they contain lead or small magnets that kids can swallow. It's the toy company's second recall in as many weeks. Consumer Reports Senior Director for Product Safety Donald Mays explains what's behind the Chinese import safety crisis and how you can steer clear of dangerous products.
Comments [7]
The same day that you featured a story about lead in toys manufactured in China, there was also a piece on NPR about the huge rise in autism over the past few years. Could there be a connection here? Since the rise in Autism (usually diagnosed betw the ages of 2 and 3) has not been noticiably more prevalent among any particular area of the country or economic class, perhaps this is something that should be looked into; whether substances used in the manufacture of teething rings, crib toys, stuffed animals, etc. mighht be a contributing factor.
Beyond the focus of how these bad practices effects US (american consumers) what about how these countries become polluted & workers exploited! World Trade at this point is not enlighted. The big biz knows better & we the people turn a blind eye.
People get what they deserve. If you want to fill your house with stuff, and cheap at that, spend 4-5 hours a day staring at a TV, have little involvement or interest in the world at large beyond 'what new plaything can I buy to entertain myself...?' what do you expect? We don't know where our food comes from, where the products we buy come from, what the real costs of those thigns are, etc. etc. And we don't care- we just want what we want when we want it. We've become a nation of dumbed-down suckers.
Its much to expensive to produce just about anything in the US. We cant even come close to being as cost effective as China when it come to manufacturing. But we also have much safer and more strict manufacturing practices then china. The result, the few things we still do manufacture are more expensive and much better quality then China made equivalent.
I hear a lot of talk about de-regulation as a means of stimulating the economy. While this makes sense to me, it seems like the Mattel incident and others like it are a good argument against de-regulation. What is your guest's view on the role of regulation in a captialist economy (like ours and like Chinese small industry)?
Relying on inspections of imported products is like a finger-in-the-dyke approach given the volume of product imports.
The issue is 3-fold:
1) The "Wal-Martization" of the supply chain constantly putting more pressure on suppliers to deliver lower price points forces Chinese manufacturers to cut corners
2) No trade consequences (boycotts) against China by the U.S. government to ensure product safety standards
3) Little legal/criminal penalties for senior executives in these companies--"knowingly" selling tainted goods is easily deniable
to see the pictures of all the products (which i found to be the quickest way to determine if i had any of the toys...) go to the mattel website the recall info is on the right side. view the brochures for the recalls and they have all of the pictures..
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