Loading ...Any long-time reader already knows I’ve been sounding the alarms for the consistent attacks upon the United States and its Citizens by the Red Chinese who are funded directly by Wal-Mart shoppers who would sell this country down the river in a HEARTBEAT in order to save a nickel on a pair of boxer shorts. Consider this “Part 60″ in an ongoing GTL’s “The Sky Is Falling” series…
From The [oftentimes, accused of being "traitorous" by some] New York Times:
As More Toys Are Recalled, the Trail Ends in China
By ERIC S. LIPTON and DAVID BARBOZA
WASHINGTON, June 18 — China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.
The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas & Friends trains and rail components — about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the last two years by RC2 Corporation of Oak Brook, Ill. The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children.
Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.
Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record.
It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000. …”
(Snip!)
“… Combined with the recent scares in the United States of Chinese-made pet food, and globally of Chinese-made pharmaceuticals and toothpaste, the string of toy recalls is inspiring new demands for stepped-up enforcement of safety by United States regulators and importers, as well as by the government and industry in China.
“These are items that children are supposed to be playing with,” said Prescott Carlson, co-founder of a Web site called the Imperfect Parent, which includes a section that tracks recalls of toys and other baby products. “It should be at a point where companies in the United States that are importing these items are held liable.” …”
Correct. Retailers who sell this dangerous, cheap CRAP should be held liable for failing to insure the safety of the products. If these were American made, Made In The USA products, I might be more willing to place the burden upon the manufacturers, but in this case, we have greedy, right-wing corporations WILLFULLY purchasing products from countries such as China with WOEFUL histories of producing DEADLY products made by slave labor. For this reason, I say hold the “Wally-Worlds” of the nation FULLY ACCOUNTABLE for the failures of the products.
From the same article:
“… Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency recognizes that more must be done to prevent the importation of hazardous toys and other products from China. “It is a big concern. And the agency is taking steps to try to address that as quickly as possible,” Ms. Vallese said. “Their businesses will suffer if they don’t meet safety standards.” …”
(Snip!)
“… In the last two years, the staff of the consumer product commission has been cut by more than 10 percent, leaving fewer regulators to monitor the safety of the growing flood of imports.
Some consumer advocates say that such staff cuts under the Bush administration have made the commission a lax regulator. The commission, for example, acknowledged in a recent budget document that “because of resource limitations,” it was planning next year to curtail its efforts aimed at preventing children from drowning in swimming pools and bathtubs. …”
Does anybody else care to weigh in with another “Small Gub’mint = Utopia” argument? I’m not a “Big Gub’mint” sorta guy, but for crying out LOUD, you don’t EVER leave safety, or, as our Founding Fathers referred to it when they said the role of the “Gub’mint” was “to promote the general welfare”, up to a frigging GREEDY CAPITALIST. Capitalism’s fine. I’m a capitalist — I have advertisers on this site. BUT — GREEDY, UNREGULATED capitalism makes communism look pretty.
A few more “snippets”; same article:
“… The toy industry in the United States is largely self-policed. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has safety standards, but it has only about 100 field investigators and compliance personnel nationwide to conduct inspections at ports, warehouses and stores of $22 billion worth of toys and tens of billions of dollars’ worth of other consumer products sold in the country each year. “They don’t have the staff that they need to try to get ahead of this problem,” said Janell Mayo Duncan, senior counsel at the Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports. “They need more money and resources to do more checks.” …”
(Snip!)
“… China’s own government auditing agency reported last month that 20 percent of the toys made and sold in China had safety hazards such as small parts that could be swallowed or sharp edges that could cut a child, according to a report in China Daily. Officials in China, of course, are fighting back, insisting that its food and other exports are safe and valuable, that new regulations are being put into place and that problem goods account for a tiny portion of all exports. …”
(Snip!)
“… Other major retailers [GTL INSERT: Wal-Mart, for example] or toy industry companies hit by recalls for products made in China this year include Easy-Bake Ovens, made by Hasbro, which could trap children’s fingers in the oven and burn them, and Target stores, which the consumer product commission said was importing and selling Anima Bamboo collection games, some of which were coated with lead paint. …”
Please. Let’s JUST buy American again. How long will we stand by and finance China’s imposed death toll upon American toddlers and young children simply because Chinese underwear can be purchased “on the cheap” at Wal-Mart and other retail monopolies who specialize in the selling of cheap, DEADLY CRAP?
“Child-proof”? Try “CHILD POOF!” Is that really the way we want it? Apparently SO, according to the latest shopping habits of American consumers…
More food for THOUGHT — Death In The Toybox -
WAKE THE HELL UP, AMERICA.
***
Thanks to Eric Turkewitz of the New York Personal Injury Law Blog for linking in -
GTL,
GTL calls for more regulations. That’s almost a news story in and of itself.
I do agree that buying American is the way to go. However, the more time that passes the less we seem able to buy that is American made. I spent a year looking for a de-humidifier. Every store in town. Several stores out of town. First I looked for an American made de-humidifier. Then I looked for a European made de-humidifier. I couldn’t even find a Mexican made de-humidifier. Every single store (that might sell de-humidifiers) in town. It was a de-humidifier made in China or no de-humidifier.
When it comes to children’s toys the search becomes even more difficult. The popular toys are not made in the US. The toys my children want are made in China. Whether they’re Disney, Dream Works, Thomas the Tank Engine or whatever; the toys are made in China. The rare toys that can stand up to my boys’ wear and tear are all made…in the United States of America. But they are rare. They are hard to find. And they’re not the popular characters.
By all means, blame Wally-World. I can jump on that particular band-wagon even when reason doesn’t support it. However, in this instance reason really doesn’t support it. Wal-mart does not determine where the popular toys are made. The company of origin, be it Disney or whatever, determines that.
My son loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Luckily his trains were not the type that were contaminated. Especially since most of those more than two years old have already had the paint loved off of them.
But… I’m not blaming Wally-World… I’m blaming their shoppers and our Government who goes out of their way to protect them
Without the shoppers’ and the Government’s collaboration on this one, Wally-World would be NO MORE
True. Wally-World would easily cease to exist…but the shoppers are asleep at the wheel, whether they’re buying toys for their kids or voting for their representatives.
However, I suspect that Disney and the like would be more responsive in the demand for change. If they did not liscense their merchandise manufacturing rights to anyone outside the US, then Wally-World would almost have to sell products made in the US again. They’d be more expensive, more durable, and safer — if those who owned the rights to them sold them or leased them ONLY to American manufacturers.
Walmart is one of the worst things that have happened to America.From importing a store full of foreign goods, to the iron hand they excude over their employees, and running smaller businesses out of existence, they have helped bring the demise of the U.S economic system.
What is it about WalMart that makes folks so crazy? Is it envy/hatred of success? To deride WalMart for supplanting other retailers is like berating GM for the downfall of Studebaker. Our free market system has a wonderful mechanism, choice. Don’t like WalMart, shop at Target or Kohl’s or wherever. Don’t like Chinese made stuff, contract your local American to make your toys. What’s that? Too expensive? Could it be because to make something in America entails vast amounts of hidden expenses from regulation, protection from legal extortion(insurance), and taxation. Don’t believe it, try to start a small manufacturing operation. I’m sure the liability insurance for childrens toys is astronomical.
As an interesting thought experiment, try to imagine what the inflation rate would be if all goods had to be manufactured in America. Would anyone still want Thomas the Tank Engine for $150?
Chuck,
As a person who buys toys from American manufacturers whenever possible, I assure you that “more expensive” doesn’t equate with that expensive. I’ve yet to find an American-made Thomas the Tank Engine toy; or a Brittish-made one for that matter.
However, I can get made-in-China blocks for my sons for under ten dollars. I can get made-in-USA blocks for my sons for twelve to fifteen dollars. The difficulty is not the cost; it’s finding stores that carry them.
I generally shop at Target. However, there used to be a learning center store that carried merchandise for teachers and parents. It had a wide variety of educational toys for students through high school — though they focused primarily on younger children. Many if not most of their products were made in America. I shopped there regularly. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business. More shoppers are going to go for the cheap Chinese crap than bother to make the extra trip to pay more. And, I do believe, that is what GTL was — in part — talking about.
Again, to my point, those stores don’t carry the highly popular toys; for one, they’re rarely genuinely educational, secondly, they’re also rarely durable.