../../../..//2007/08/27/china-pledges-to-increase-product/
China pledges to increase product quality standards in the wake of recent recalls, makes point of noting how 50% of its goods are made by foreign companies. [NYT]
china
China Upset About "Hazardous" US Soybeans
By 8.23.07
China says US Soybeans have quality issues and are putting their consumers at risk, according to the WSJ:
By 8.22.07
../../../..//2007/08/22/chinese-factory-took-used-chopsticks/
Chinese factory took used chopsticks and resold them, without even disinfecting first. [Reuters]
Lawsuit Says Mattel Should Pay For Lead Testing
By 8.21.07
A lawsuit filed Monday asks Mattel to pay for lead testing to determine if children have been exposed to lead from the millions of recalled toys.
Walmart Offers Owner $2,000 For Killing Her Chihuahua With Toxic Chicken Bestro Jerky Strips It Would Rather Quietly Pull Than Officially Recall
By 8.21.07
Walmart pulls Chinese-made Chicken Bestro Jerky Strips from shelves after customers complain about their pets getting sick. No full recall announced, but they put a transaction block on the item. Then a woman’s Chihuahua dies from a toxic bacteria after eating the strips. Now another woman says her dog died from eating the strips.
Nokia Recalls 46 Million Defective Batteries
By 8.15.07
Nokia has recalled 46 million defective Chinese-made batteries according to the New York Times. The batteries can overheat and dislodge during charging. Nokia promises to replace the batteries at no cost to the consumer.
Leadly Poisonous Toys R' Us Bibs; No Fed Recall Yet
By 8.15.07
Toys R’ Us bibs test high for lead, three times the normal allowable level. Beware “Winni’ the Pooh” “Koala Baby” and “Especially for Baby” brand bibs. Unlike previous recalls, it’s not the paint that’s full of lead. The vinyl on the bibs themselves contain lead compounds.
CNBC's Erin Burnett Tells You Why China Is "Our Greatest Friend"
By 8.14.07
CNBC’s Erin Burnett thinks you should be grateful to China for keeping your prices low—at any cost: “..or China is to start making, say, toys that don’t have lead in them or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up and that means prices at Walmart here in the…
Mattel Recalls Over 7 Million Chinese-Made Toys For Lead Paint, Magnets
By 8.14.07
Today Mattel expanded their lead paint recall to include 253,000 die cast “Cars” toys. In addition, Mattel expended a 2006 magnetic toy recall to include about 7 million other toys.
Chinese Fake Harry Potter Is Awesome; Also A Dragon
By 8.11.07
Officials might consider counterfeit Chinese “translations” of copyrighted work illegal, but we like to think of them as the marketplace’s version of outsider art; it’s like fanfic and Lulu.com got together and opened up a bookstore in Shanghai. The New York Times teases its readers with awesome excerpts from a handful of recent Harry Potter knockoffs, with titles far better than the real ones:
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Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll
Harry Potter and the Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon
Harry Potter and the Chinese Overseas Students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
China: It's Mattel's Fault That Chinese Companies Manufactured Toys Covered With Lead. What?
By 8.11.07
China’s General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) blamed Mattel for the recent lead contamination of nearly 1 million toys, saying that the toy maker did not adequately supervise their suppliers. Mattel’s oversight safeguards are widely regarded as the “gold standard” for manufacturing in China. From the LA Times:
Is China Going To Execute Lead-Toy Vendors?
By 8.9.07
Chinese officials have announced that they will “severely” punish the vendors responsible for the recent lead-tainted toy snafu. That leads us to ask, what do they consider severe punishment? Remember what they did to the director of the food and drug agency for accepting poisoned toothpaste bribes? And the new state-sponsored video game “Incorruptible Fighter”, where players get to execute corrupt officials with magic or weapons, is so popular that it’s been downloaded over 100,000 times.
Chinese Tire Recall Goes Into Effect
By 8.9.07
NHTSA ordered the recall after Foreign Tire Sales told the agency that some of Hangzhou Zhongce’s tires were made without a safety feature, called a gum strip, that helps bind the belts of a tire to each other. Some of the tires had a gum strip about half the width of the 0.6 millimeter gum strip Foreign Tire Sales expected, the importer said.
Mattel Identifies Manufacturer Responsible For Supplying 967,000 Tainted Toys
By 8.8.07
Mattel is blaming a potentially bankrupt cardboard box vendor for supplying 967,000 toys covered with lead paint. The toy maker publicly identified the Lee Der Industrial Company in Guangdong province in the hopes that other toy makers will take their business elsewhere. The AP tried to call Lee Der for comment, which resulted in this odd exchange:
FDA Ban Fails To Catch 1 Million Pounds Of Chinese Seafood
By 8.8.07
1 million pounds of shrimp, eel, and catfish somehow slipped past the FDA’s ban on Chinese seafood. All seafood covered by the ban arrives at U.S. ports under an import alert, which ostensibly prevents the fish from leaving until private testing proves the absence of banned antibiotics and drugs. Chinese importers, resorting to tricks possibly gleaned from Wile E. Coyote, evade the FDA by shipping their contraband under the names and addresses of companies unaffected by the import alert. From the AP:
Microsoft Cuts Prices In Order To Compete With Chinese Pirates
By 8.3.07
Can’t beat ’em? Compete with them! Microsoft has lowered their prices in China in an attempt to thwart pirating.
Mattel Thought They Could Outsmart The Chinese Poison Train
By 8.2.07
Two weeks before announcing the recall of nearly 1 million toys tainted with toxic lead paint, Mattel was featured in the New York Times as a role model, the “gold standard” for companies manufacturing goods in China. The Chinese Poison Train’s ability to sneak past Mattel’s fortified defenses highlights the tremendous difficulties faced by well-meaning American manufacturers trying to police their supply chains. Mattel spared no expense to ensure the safety of their products.
Toxic Lead Paint Prompts Recall of 967,000 Fisher-Price Toys
By 8.2.07
Sorry kids, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price are recalling Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and 83 other types of fun toys that happen to be covered with toxic lead paint from China.
