The world’s largest toy company, Mattel Inc., has recalled 967,ooo plastic preschool toys made in China because their paint may contain too much lead.
I saw a clip on our local news where a reporter went to a family’s home and interviewed a mother. As the reporter named the specific toys listed in the recall the mother pulled the toys out of a box…
Reporter: Big Bird
Mother: Here’s one.
Reporter: Elmo
Mother: There it is.
Reporter: Dora or Diego
Mother: Here’s Dora. I know we have Diego somewhere.
Of the 10 or so toys named, the mother, within seconds, pulled out all but one. And even that one she said was in the home somewhere.
This Chinese toy recall is just the latest in a series of public relations nightmares for products made in China and imported to the US (and presumably around the world):
First, we had the pet food recall. Every day it seemed a new brand was found to be contaminated.
There was Chinese-made toothpaste that was poisonous.
And huge numbers of defective tires, which sound pretty harmless compared to the others until you realize, “So much is riding on your tires.” Your family’s safety often depends on tires wearing out over time, not shredding or exploding without warning. After all, when is this going to happen to your tires? When the car is sitting in the garage? Not likely – it will be when you and/or someone you love is travelling in that vehicle!
The very latest isn’t a recall (yet anyway), but no less alarming. It seems that about 1 million pounds of frozen shrimp, catfish, and eel made it to store shelves and dinner plates despite an FDA order that every shipment be inspected. The seafood arrived under the FDA’s “import alert”, meaning the FDA was supposed to hold EVERY shipment until it had passed an inspection for banned drugs and chemicals. But one of every four shipments got through without being stopped or tested. The amount of uninspected seafood is enough to satisfy the seafood cravings of 66,000 Americans for one year.
Remember, this is the same country that recently executed its former food and drug safety chief for taking bribes!
What would companies like Mattel do if Americans refuse to buy products made in China? Parents don’t like anyone messing with the health of their kids! And hopefully they will close their wallets on this latest “Made in China” fiasco.
Is this the outcome so many greedy American companies envisioned when they sent the work overseas so they can get it cheaper? Why not? Off the top of my head, it sounds like the old saying, “You get what you pay for”, is still true.
It’s not just what’s getting out of China either… I read a report of a restaurant cook running out the back of his building, grabbing some cardboard off the street, soaking it in water and chemicals to break it down, then adding it to the meat he was cooking and serving on buns. Obviously, you make more money because cardboard from the street is free. I guess he figured he was cleaning up the litter in his neighborhood and turning a little profit on it – win, win for him and the city. Lose for the consumer who has no clue what he’s getting. Makes you wonder what’s really in that cereal that actually tastes like cardboard, doesn’t it?
While China continues to insist their products are safe, the Beijing Olympics one year countdown started today.
Just off the top of my head, I’m glad I’ll be home watching the 2008 Olympics on my “Made in China” television. And I’m glad I really hate seafood – Chinese imported, fresh caught, or anything in between.
