June 19, 2007

Now it's toys from China - will this not stop?

It's not just food anymore, now we have to worry about kids toys made in China. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Chinese toys: A recall scare
Popular train sets are the latest target of safety action by U.S.

Every one of the 24 toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas and Friends wooden train sets, was manufactured in China, a record that is increasingly causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.

The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and rail sets -- or about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the past two years -- that were coated at a factory in China with potentially poisonous lead paint.

In just last past month, a so-called Floating Eyeballs toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene, sets of toy drums and a toy bear were recalled because of lead paint and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.

Combined with the recent scares related to Chinese-made pet food, and globally about Chinese-made pharmaceuticals and toothpaste, the string of toy recalls is inspiring demands for stepped-up enforcement of toy safety by U.S. regulators and importers, as well as the government and industry in China.
24 toy recalls and each and every one of them was for a toy manufactured in China. It's not just toys either:
The number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the overall number of recalls in the country to a record level.

It has meant that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of the overall product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.
That's overall products, not just toys. Makes you want to look very closely at the nation of origin label on anything you buy or own... Posted by DaveH at June 19, 2007 7:42 PM | TrackBack
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