China's Damaged Goods

The real crock here is that all this could be avoided by just a little due diligence on the part of the companies using Chinese manufacturers. It's a pretty simple concept, called quality assurance, followed by most government defense and responsible companies. As a part of the contract, first the manufacturer must submit representative samples for testing and approval, then during manufacture, the purchasing company has its representative pull random samples of product for testing. Evidently, the US companies did nothing to assure the safety of the products being manufactured in China (or other third world countries). When this chicken comes home to roost, it's gonna shit in the US manufacturers nest.

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FROM NEWSMAX.COM:
China's Damaged Goods
Charles R. Smith
Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007
The China problem just got a bit bigger.
Chinese products entering the U.S. have come under fire and massive recalls due to poison. The products ranging from toys to toothpaste have been discovered to be toxic and dangerous.
Mattel, the largest U.S. maker of toys, has recalled over 18 million Chinese-made toys that contain magnets that can be swallowed by children or could be colored with lead paint.
The recalls includes 7.3 million play sets, Polly Pocket dolls, Batman action figures, and 253,000 Sarge brand cars, because the surface paint could contain lead.
Also recalled were 683,000 Barbie and Tanner play sets and 1 million Doggie Day Care play sets.
In addition to the new U.S. recall, which totals over 9 million toys, other Mattel toys sent around the world have also been recalled. An additional 183,000 Sarge brand cars from the Pixar movie "Cars" were recalled with 49,000 of the affected vehicles located in the UK and Ireland.
Other Mattel toys recalled contain small, powerful magnets that can come loose and are a potential swallowing hazard to young children. According to Mattel, if more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation or blockage, which can be fatal.
There had been 400 reports of magnets coming loose since Mattel recalled 2.4 million magnetic play sets in November 2006. According to the reports, at least three children required surgery after swallowing more than one magnet. The new recall comes within days of Mattel's Fisher-Price division worldwide recall of 1.5 million Chinese-made preschool toys featuring characters such as Dora the Explorer, Big Bird and Elmo. According to Mattel, 967,000 of those toys were sold in the United States between May and August.
Mattel officials maintained that a European retailer discovered the lead in some of the lead-covered Fisher-Price products in early July. On July 6, the company halted operations at the factory in China that produced the toys and launched an investigation.
Days after the Fisher-Price recall, Chinese officials temporarily banned the toys' manufacturer, Lee Der Industrial Co., from exporting products. According to Chinese official reports, Lee Der co-owner, Cheung Shu-hung, committed suicide at a warehouse apparently by hanging himself after the ban.
The cause of Cheung's suicide was reportedly due to the disgrace of the recall. However, no official statement has been made available and Cheung's company is under investigation.
In June, toy maker RC2 Corp. voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. The company said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China also contained lead.
The toy recall is compounded by another dangerous Chinese import — poison toothpaste. Indianapolis-based Gilchrist & Soames released a statement that it was recalling toothpaste made in China after discovering the product contained a chemical used to make automobile antifreeze. The toothpaste was distributed to hotels in more than a dozen countries. Independent tests showed some samples of the Chinese toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical that could cause kidney and liver failure. The recall involves 0.65-ounce tubes of toothpaste made in China by Ming Fai Enterprises International Co. Ltd.
The toothpaste was distributed under the Gilchrist & Soames name to hotels in Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Turks & Caicos, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States. Gilchrist & Soames officials would not release the names of hotels affected by the recall and could not say how many of the small tubes of toothpaste were involved.
The toothpaste recall comes after Chinese toothpaste products were pulled off the shelves around the U.S. and all over the globe. The FDA has put out a notice to consumers covering the exact brands that are tainted. In addition to the U.S., several Latin American nations, including Panama have banned or forced the removal of toothpaste containing dangerous chemicals.
The FDA has posted a list of toothpastes found to contain diethylene glycol at
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01646.html
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