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Despite problems involving Chinese-made goods sold in the U.S., a Chinese spokesperson says that orders for Christmas toys are “up” and that factories can’t keep up with demand. But he also says, “I urge the importers of Chinese toys to come to China and buy more Chinese toys and I wish children around the world a Merry Christmas,” which makes the claim sound like PR spin. [Reuters]
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Good work, America! Your insatiable thirst for cheap Chinese goods sucked products worth $878 billion across the Pacific in the past nine months. That’s a 27% increase over last year. What about the Chinese Poison Train? Dong Tao at Credit Suisse scoffs at your concerns: “You know, 40 million toys may be bad for dozens of toy makers in Dongguan. But that’s small potatoes for China’s over $1 trillion a year of exports.” [NYT]
The Center for Environmental Health says they’ve tested a Curious George doll that is currently on stores shelves and found that it contains more than “ten times the legal lead limit”, prompting Marvel Entertainment Group to stop new shipments from China.
Just buy ’em and scrape off the lead paint. Why? Because toy makers will be passing the cost of higher-quality and better-made toys on to you next year. Says one analyst, “Anything that’s a new introduction, you can make that price point $19.99 rather than $14.99.”
The Administration envisions a future where science and technology keep our food supply safe and secure. The multi-agency working group tasked with improving food safety has yet to agree on final recommendations, but both interest groups and the Administration seem dead set against new inspectors. Instead, the working group wants to build upon the current system of random inspections to better target potential dangers among the $2.2 trillion worth of goods imported each year.
Back in August, the University of Washington issued a press release about a study in the Journal of Pediatrics that examined the effect that baby videos (such as the Disney “Baby Einstein” series) had on young children.
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Various KB Toys Recalls Wooden Toys (lead), “Pirates of the Caribbean” Medallion Squeeze Lights (lead), Dollar General Frankenstein Tumblers (lead), “Totally Me!” Children’s Decorating Sets (lead), Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color Blocks (lead), Dollar General metal keyrings (lead), Antioch Bookmarks and Journals (lead), Sports Authority Alpine Design Aluminum Water Bottles (lead).
If you returned a recalled Thomas & Friends toy to RC2, you probably received an apology and a “bonus gift.” We hope you didn’t give the toy to your kid, because some of the “bonus gifts” have been recalled for lead contamination.
Sometimes being a conscientious shopper really does matter. The man who realized that tubes of discount toothpaste were tainted with diethylene glycol last May has been found and interviewed by the New York Times. Eduardo Arias, a 51-year-old government worker in Panama City, was shopping in a discount store one Saturday when he saw the toothpaste—he said he could read the ingredients list clearly without even picking up a tube, and when he saw “diethylene glycol” as an ingredient, alarms went off.
The toy recalls are still big news and something (the autumnal equinox, perhaps?) triggered an avalanche of “Oh, no! What should parents do?” advice stories from the media. Most, if not all, mentioned recalls.org,but you can also subscribe to Consumerist’s “recalls” feed.
Here at Consumerist we’ve been keeping an eye on the 2007 lead contamination recalls. Here’s September’s update:
The 425,000 play yards that were recalled yesterday were recalled because of a design flaw that caused the strangulation of a 10-month-old boy.
According to a recall notice just posted by the CPSC, RC2 is recalling additional “Thomas & Friends” toys that are contaminated with lead-based paint.
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More Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys (lead), Happy Giddy Gardening Tools and Children’s Sunny Patch Chairs sold at Target (lead), Britain’s “Knights of the Sword” Series Toys (lead), Jo-Ann Stores Children’s Toy Rake (lead), Guidecraft Floor Puppet Theaters (lead), : Rhode Island Novelty Children’s Spinning Wheel-Metal Necklaces (lead), More TOBY N.Y.C. Children’s Metal Jewelry (lead), Quesos Sabrosos Mexicanos Queso Cincho de Guerrero (salmonella).
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“Scammers in China are pretending to be official quality control inspectors so they can take bribes in exchange for overlooking shoddy manufacturing.” [Reuters via The Raw Feed]
Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys. It is important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of these products that we recalled were the result of a flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers.
The Friends of Mel Foundation recalled 200,000 beaded bracelets contaminated with lead on news that a 9-year-old fell ill after putting the lead-ridden bracelet in his mouth. Proceeds from the bracelets generated over $1 million that went towards cancer research. From the Boston Globe:
Independent lab tests conducted on various bracelets by Massachusetts Materials Research Inc. showed that the multicolored beads in the Friends of Mel’s bracelets contain no lead but that the small silver-toned rings connecting the beads have a high lead content. The beads are from China and Turkey and the small rings are from China, Herskovitz said.
About 1 million Simplicity cribs were recalled yesterday due to several deaths related to a defect which can cause children to become trapped and suffocate.
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