Parading before you today will be two familiar panels: The first will feature acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Nancy Nord and Commissioner Thomas Moore, who skipped out of last week’s hearing for a dentists appointment. The second will be devoted solely to Mattel CEO Robert Eckert.
Quality & Safety
Mars Breaks Rank, Promises Consumers It Will Keep Using Real Chocolate
By 9.19.07
On Monday, Mars Snackfoods US—makers of “pokin’ at you pokin’ at you” Snickers bars, M&Ms, and other popular office meal replacement systems—announced that it would not seek FDA permission to replace its cocoa butter with cheaper vegetable oil, which is what the rest of the industry is lobbying for. Okay, first of all, yech, just… vegetable oil? But second of all, yay for Mars for drawing a line somewhere on poor product quality.
Chrysler Recalls 300,000 Vehicles Due To Potential Braking Problem
By 9.19.07
Chrysler has announced a recall of over 300,000 vehicles due to a potential problem with the car’s ability to brake while coasting uphill.
Hey, Why Aren't Your Toys Made In China?
By 9.18.07
The New York Times took a look at some European toy makers who decided to let the Chinese Poison Train pass them by. Why didn’t they outsource their manufacturing to China?
Dole "Hearts Delight" Bagged Lettuce Recalled For E. Coli
By 9.18.07
Dole is recalling bagged lettuce tainted with e. coli today, so you’ll want to check your fridge lest you develop bloody diarrhea.
Applebee's Bruschetta Burger Menu Picture Vs Reality
By 9.18.07
I went to dinner at the Applebee’s in Woodland, CA a couple nights ago and ordered their bruschetta burger. As soon as I saw my order, I immediately took a picture and thought Consumerist needed to see it because it fits so well in the ad v. reality posts. The burger itself was a bit sloppy, but still looked similar to the menu picture. The fries, however, were a different story. In the menu photo, “garlic parmesan fries” are served in a ramekin and look quite tasty. Instead, I was served a cylinder of slimy, greasy fries with a couple pieces of parmesan cheese on top.
By 9.18.07
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Dole Hearts Delight salad mix (E. coli), Braun Normal Saline Flush syringes (particulate matter in the saline), Stone Meats 5 lb lean meat (pieces of metal).
EU May Ban Chinese Toys After October
By 9.17.07
China’s toy imports make up more than half the toy market in the EU, and apparently their lax safety record hasn’t escaped the grim, existential gaze of Europe. Meglena Kuneva, an EU commissioner, put it quite bluntly in front of the EU’s internal market and consumer protection committee last week: “This is the last warning. If there’s an unsatisfactory report in October we will [impose] the next layer of measures. Among them is a ban on products,” which the Associated Press reports could include toys.
"Easy-To-Follow" Diet Requires Injections, Colonics, And More
By 9.17.07
Let’s say you bought a diet book that was advertised to provide an easy-to-follow diet that you can do at home and that allows you to eat whatever you want—and then, once you buy the book, you find out that it “describes a complex, grueling plan that requires severe dieting, daily injections of a prescription drug that consumers cannot easily get, and lifelong dietary restrictions.” The FTC apparently thinks that’s misleading, and they’re going after Kevin Trudeau (yet again) for it.
Toy Prices To Rise 10%
By 9.15.07
Toys will be 10% more expensive next year thanks the toy industry’s latest attempts to protect American children from defective merchandise. Toy makers will use the hike to offset the cost of retaining independent labs to both test for defective and dangerous toys, and provide a measure of PR security.
Consumers could also see higher prices on other Chinese imports such as fish and children’s apparel, but the big price gains in toys could be more jolting.
China Appoints Tough Anti-Poison Czar
By 9.15.07
Meet Wu Yi. The 68-year old Vice Premier, the highest ranking woman in the Communist Party, has been tasked with one mission: toss the Chinese Poison Train back into the rapidly industrializing nation’s toy-chest.
Federal Government Boldly Declares: "It Is Impossible To Inspect Our Way To Safety"
By 9.15.07
Inspections will not keep Americans safe from potentially dangerous foreign imports, according to a Presidential working group representing 12 federal agencies. The working group believes that the sheer number of products arriving at our ports – goods worth $2 trillion, last year – make the development and deployment of an inspection regime impossible. The alternative inspires little confidence.
By 9.13.07
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Back to Basics IT400 Iced Tea Makers (fire), Harry and David Hearthside Soups, Southwestern Chicken Chili Mix (undeclared milk).
By 9.12.07
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Organic Pastures Dairy Company Grade A raw cream (Listeria monocytogenes), Great Wall Brand Chinese Wolfberry (undeclared sulfites), Cook’s Essentials Convection Ovens with Pull-Out Rotisserie and Deni Convection Ovens with Rotisserie (fire, electrical shock)
Design Flaws In Toys Cause Far More Injuries Than Lead
By 9.12.07
Lead isn’t what you need to watch out for with American toys—it’s design flaws and the policies of irresponsible toy companies, says E. Marla Felcher on Slate. One study “recently found that of all the toys recalled since 1988, 76 percent involved design flaws. Kids choked, were strangled, and were burned by toy makers’ design mistakes.”
The reason so many toys were recalled this summer is not that there weren’t enough regulations. It’s that toy makers were ignoring the regulations that are already on the books. And the new testing proposal won’t stop them from continuing to do so.
Liveblogging The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing On Toy Safety
By 9.12.07
Today is a big day for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Starting at 11am, the Chairman of the powerful Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will kick off a series of hearings examining the toy industry’s seemingly magnetic attraction to lead paint. Durbin, whose Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s budget, will grill toy industry representatives, consumer advocates, and members of the government over plans to protect America’s children from the dangers silently lurking on toy shelves by establishing an independent testing regime.
Walmart Pulls Foot Burning FlipFlops
By 9.12.07
Walmart says it has pulled thousands of cheap sandals that had of customers complaining about painful, lingering rashes, WFTV in Florida reports.
By 9.10.07
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A family in Hainan, China worried that it had a tainted bottle of water on its hands, so it gave the water to a pet chicken; the chicken died “within a minute.” We smell a new export opportunity here for Chinese manufacturers—your very own house chicken to peck out any tainted toys, toothpaste, or pet food. And maybe it can sniff the popcorn, too. Reuters already made a chicken-choking joke, so we’ll pass. [Reuters]
