Made in China? Danger Throw it away

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Concerns over products made in China have intensified, particularly regarding safety and quality. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised consumers to avoid Chinese-made toothpaste due to contamination risks. The discussion highlights a broader issue of the lax safety regulations in China, where manufacturers prioritize quantity over quality, leading to hazardous products, including tainted food and unsafe toys. Reports of industrial chemicals in food items and lead in children's toys have raised alarms, prompting recalls from major companies. Many consumers express frustration over the prevalence of Chinese goods in U.S. stores, noting that even essential household items like electrical components and tools are often sourced from China. This situation raises questions about the effectiveness of U.S. import regulations and the potential long-term consequences of relying heavily on Chinese manufacturing. The dialogue also touches on the ethical implications of supporting a system with questionable labor practices and safety standards, urging a reconsideration of purchasing habits for the sake of consumer safety.
  • #101
I am awaiting the arrival of a lead-test kit. $35 including shipping for 24 tests. We have decorative containers and dishes bought over the years that may in fact be unsafe to use for food, and we want to know for sure.
 
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  • #102
I was thinking that it might be interesting to start randomly checking Chinese made products for lead.

I saw a report the other night that claims that 80% of Chinese citizens don't trust the safety of food in China.

Tsu works with a guy who has lived in Taiwan for years and is soon returning. He just discovered that he has lead poisoning.
 
  • #103
Wal-Mart: Melamine Found in Dog Treats

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Tests of two Chinese brands of dog treats sold at Wal-Mart stores found traces of melamine, a chemical agent that led to another massive pet food recall in March, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. [continued]
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/21/ap4042092.html

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- A U.S.-based workers' rights group said it found "brutal conditions" and labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps for better standards.

China Labor Watch said in a report issued on Tuesday after several months of investigation that the manufacturers -- which served a handful of global players, including Walt Disney, Bandai and Hasbro -- paid "little heed to the most basic standards of the country."

"Wages are low, benefits are nonexistent, work environments are dangerous and living conditions are humiliating," it said.[continued]
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/21/china.toys.reut/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
 
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  • #104
China Blue

This originally aired on PBS in May.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7722357401716915348
 
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  • #105
More batches of Chinese-made toys are being recalled because of excessive lead content.

The recalled items include SpongeBob SquarePants journals and address books as well as Thomas and Friends and Curious George spinning tops and toy pails.[continued]
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/toy_recalls.html


BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing factory sold up to 100,000 pairs of disposable chopsticks a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of food and product safety scares.[continued]
http://www.reuters.com/article/topN...c=082207_1024_DOUBLEFEATURE_dean_targets_gulf
 
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  • #107
It is inconceivable that outrgovernment expects the US taxpayers to pay for inspection, interdiction and testing of products that show up in our ports. The exporters in foreign countries should have to pay for storage, testing, and certification of their products to gain access to our markets. This crap is gutting US industries and impoverishing our workforce. It wouldn't be so bad if we had a social net that allowed US workers to live on a few dollars a day, but we don't.
 
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  • #108
edward said:
Why do the Chinese use lead based paint? It is cheaper.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/August/21080701.asp
Lead is very cheap, compared to titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide provides brilliance and opacity in paints and paper-coatings, but it is costly. It is very stable and is safe for human consumption, but the Chinese can make fortunes (with their volumes) substituting lead compounds for titanium dioxide in coatings and paints. The heads of these companies want to cash in as quickly as possible - what do they care if your kid ends up with developmental problems or retardation?
 
  • #109
Many cosmetics and sunscreens contain TiO2. Lead is cheaper than titanium dioxide. Many products and/or ingredients come from countries not known for quality control. Some manufactures don't appear to test their end product for various contaminants.

The market for mineral makeup alone is huge.

Maybe we should be testing more than paint?
 
  • #110
My lead test-kit came in the mail today. This weekend, my with and I will take time to screen a bunch of ceramic, porcelain, etc products to make sure that it is safe to use with food. If they're not, we'll smash them and throw them in the trash. No sense in letting someone else find a "usable" serving platter, and poison themselves or their family members and friends. We have some very colorful decorative serving platters/trays that my wife bought years ago, and the recent problems with Chinese products have made us suspicious of other cost-cutting adulterations from back then, too.
 
  • #111
Far Star said:
Many cosmetics and sunscreens contain TiO2. Lead is cheaper than titanium dioxide. Many products and/or ingredients come from countries not known for quality control. Some manufactures don't appear to test their end product for various contaminants.

The market for mineral makeup alone is huge.

Maybe we should be testing more than paint?

A lot of Colgate's products come from China including all of their toothpaste. gees will it ever end.

Aqua Star brand fish and seafood products are advertised as being healthy ect. They are now in most major grocery chains. Yet their products are processed in China and god only knows what that fish has been exposed to because no one is looking.

Their website makes them look like the golden boys of good nutrition.

http://www.aquastar.com/consumer/fish_buyers_gd.htm
 
  • #112
And just think if the lead does make our children retarded, then they will grow up and buy even more stuff from China.

Smart, ain't they.

Jim
 
  • #113
Speaking of seafood- if you're looking for canned tuna in water be sure to check the ingredients. Some brands contain vegetable protein in addition to water and salt. Maybe not a big deal to most people but it's annoying enough to wonder what's in the fish.
 
  • #114
Far Star said:
Speaking of seafood- if you're looking for canned tuna in water be sure to check the ingredients. Some brands contain vegetable protein in addition to water and salt. Maybe not a big deal to most people but it's annoying enough to wonder what's in the fish.
That vegetable protein is processed to produce glutamates, which can help mask the taste of spoilage and the metallic tasted that can result from packing salted foods in metal cans. US regulations do not require that glutamates be identified unless the additive stream is at least 97% glutamate. If your food contains "natural flavors", "autolized yeast", "modified food starch" or any of over 50 other euphemistic names for this crap, you are eating MSG. It is difficult to find ANY processed food that has not been adulterated with this stuff. Here's a partial list.

http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm
 
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  • #115
Turbo-1, thanks for the link. Helpful to know what to look for.

It will be interesting to know how your lead tests turn out.
 
  • #116
Aqua Star is a frozen fish and seafood wholesaler. They have been coming on strong in the frozen fish and seafood market. They now rank third largest in the USA.

I looked at several of their products at a major grocery chain store the other day. Both had a small label on the back of the packages that stated.......A Product of the republic of China.

http://www.aquastar.com/retail/food_retailers.htm

The water in the fish farms in China is not exactly what one would call healthy.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56004

Mattel just announced another toy recall

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070904/NEWS07/70904081/-1
/BUSINESS08

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/LATU17804092007-1.htm


Now for the good news, I saved money by switching my insurance to Geico...not
 
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  • #117
all this talk about thing is like whao! well i want to say that the best thing to do is buy from your own country! haha
(visit my blog!)
 
  • #118
kaisxuans said:
all this talk about thing is like whao! well i want to say that the best thing to do is buy from your own country! haha
(visit my blog!)

It is far too easy for corporations to move to other countries where there are little to no labor or environmental laws, and then import inferior products into the US. As a result, our jobs, our safety, and our choices are disappearing.

Today's dangerous Chinese product in the news:
Importer to recall Chinese-made car fuses
Auto parts company alerted regulators to fuses that don't blow when they should and could cause fires. [continued]
http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/05/autos/fuse_recall/?postversion=2007090516
 
  • #119
This just reminded me that many aftermarket automotive parts are also made in China, although I still think that Mexico is in the lead here. Most non original equipment appliance parts are also made in Mexico, but China will probably soon dominate this market as they have with plumbing parts.
 
  • #120
WASHINGTON - The government announced an 11th-hour recall Wednesday to warn consumers that fake Halloween teeth sold by the tens of thousands since last year contain excessive amounts of lead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/halloween_recall

I'm getting the impression that China is a heavy country. Maybe they're just trying to lighten their load.
 
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  • #121
Chi Meson said:
One of the "Made in China" items I hate the most are the ultra cheap plastic trinkets and doo-dads that we accumulate at birthday parties for our kids. These useless "toys" that cost $1 for a dozen are filling the "goodie bags" that are given to the guests as they leave. Whatever they are (little ball-in-the-maze puzzles, bendy straws,whistles, pencils pencils goddam pencils) they never work, and become landfill waste without ever being a true product.

lol I'm surprised someone would have thought of those things. These things are thrown away the next day; what a waste.
 
  • #122
Ivan Seeking said:
You clearly have no understanding of what outsourcing has done the US manufacturing sector - it has been decimated. And the only reason this happened is unfair competition that results in polluted air and water, and poisoned products. The great lie about globalization is the difference between what's good for corporations, and what's in the public interest.



Oh please, I doubt that any power plant or factory in China would even be allowed to operate here. There is no comparison.

There's no such thing as "unfair competition" when it comes to capitalism which by the way is what greedy homo sapiens want.
 
  • #123
animalcroc said:
There's no such thing as "unfair competition" when it comes to capitalism which by the way is what greedy homo sapiens want.

Sure there is, because we don't have pure capitalism. The reason is that we know it doesn't work.
 
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  • #124
Ivan Seeking said:
It was hard to see this one coming eh? :rolleyes:


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a7x6i6Rlu9pY&refer=news

So, our government sells us out for decades, and now the plan is to force us to accept potentially dangerous products, or whatever China says, because they hold the debt card. Of course the world can't afford to have the US economy collapse, so unless the Chinese are planning to dump the new Toyotas go back to rickshaws...

Our trade deficit is why the foreign currencies are overtaking the dollar. The Euro already past up the dollar by an unprecedented margin.
 
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  • #125
Ivan Seeking said:
Sure there is, because we don't have pure capitalism. The reason is that we know it doesn't work.

By "we" you refer to the U.S. and a limited amount of countries, even so of which only have their "non-pure" capitalism on paper. In practice it's different. The goal of business is to profit of others, i.e. get an advantage over them. Businesses owners try to make more money as possible and it comes at someone's expense. Upper-level corporate management's salaries have increased I believe 15-fold (at least seven for sure) over the past fifty years while lowest level workers salaries have risen hardly in comparison. Who reaped in the company profits, the fat cats or the lower levels? That's American business.
And if a bum off the street had the opportunity to be a fat cat, he would.
 
  • #126
R&D is suppose to be our saviour, but you know, I help to develop new products for a living. This is my bread and butter. The outsourcing has gotten so bad that I find that companies are now shying away from good opportunities; for example, for custom products [like 400 custom motors a month at $500+ a pop plus development fees] because they no longer believe that they will get the long term business. They know that we can easily outsource production to China and steal their product. And to them, it's not worth the investment of resources if they don't get the long term business. This is a problem that I have been fighting for the last month on my current project.
 
  • #127
animalcroc said:
By "we" you refer to the U.S. and a limited amount of countries, even so of which only have their "non-pure" capitalism on paper. In practice it's different. The goal of business is to profit of others, i.e. get an advantage over them. Businesses owners try to make more money as possible and it comes at someone's expense. Upper-level corporate management's salaries have increased I believe 15-fold (at least seven for sure) over the past fifty years while lowest level workers salaries have risen hardly in comparison. Who reaped in the company profits, the fat cats or the lower levels? That's American business.
And if a bum off the street had the opportunity to be a fat cat, he would.

But we do have laws - environmental laws, child labor laws, inspection requirements, etc. For example, in a meat processing plant, they can't even operate without a USDA inspector on-site.
 
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  • #128
Ivan Seeking said:
R&D is suppose to be our saviour, but you know, I help to develop new products for a living. This is my bread and butter. The outsourcing has gotten so bad that I find that companies are now shying away from good opportunities; for example, for custom products [like 400 custom motors a month at $500+ a pop plus development fees] because they no longer believe that they will get the long term business. They know that we can easily outsource production to China and steal their product. And to them, it's not worth the investment of resources if they don't get the long term business. This is a problem that I have been fighting for the last month on my current project.

The U.S. is in an economic decline which I think will stay until some equilibrium point is reached.
 
  • #129
We will never reach a balance if we don't have fair competition; at least not until the US is like a third-world nation.
 
  • #130
Ivan Seeking said:
We will never reach a balance if we don't have fair competition; at least not until the US is like a third-world nation.

My point. The dominance of corporatism has accelerated under the Bush (or rather Cheney) regime and those guys see nothing but dollar bills (for them).
 
  • #131
  • #132
The story above was just updated:

TORONTO—Following yesterday’s announcement that original Aqua Dots manufacturer Moose Enterprises was recalling its line in Australia, Spin Master is requesting retailers in North America remove Aqua Dots products from their shelves. [continued]
http://www.playthings.com/article/CA6498542.html?desc=topstory
 
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  • #133
Lead Paint Risk Causes Curious George Plush Dolls Recall
http://www.product-reviews.net/2007/11/09/lead-paint-risk-causes-curious-george-plush-dolls-recall/
 
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  • #134


The Chinese lead-contaminated toy scare has prompted new rules from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that require testing and certification that may be too expensive for little workshops. That could actually reduce the number of safe toys on the market, even toys made of raw wood or those with food-safe oil finishes and dyes. Good intentions are not sufficient for good rule-making - it also requires planning and the examination of potential negative consequences.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_re_us/tainted_toys;_ylt=AtseN_eRNcgnij46SHJZzKCs0NUE
 
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  • #135


turbo-1 said:
The Chinese lead-contaminated toy scare has prompted new rules from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that require testing and certification that may be too expensive for little workshops. That could actually reduce the number of safe toys on the market, even toys made of raw wood or those with food-safe oil finishes and dyes. Good intentions are not sufficient for good rule-making - it also requires planning and the examination of potential negative consequences.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_on_re_us/tainted_toys;_ylt=AtseN_eRNcgnij46SHJZzKCs0NUE

Given the first paragraph of the article, your post is just a bit confusing. It sounds like this issue is being addressed.

SAN FRANCISCO – The makers of handcrafted toys received some holiday hope Wednesday with support from a federal agency for proposed exemptions from strict lead-testing regulations they feared could put them out of business.

Last year's discovery of lead paint in mass-market toys prompted the government to pass new safety rules requiring testing and labeling that mom-and-pop workshops and retailers said they could not afford.

As a February deadline for complying with the law loomed, toy makers who use benign materials such as unfinished wood, organic cotton and beeswax sought exemptions from the rules they said could apply to them...
 
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  • #136


The point is that the regulation was imposed with little thought about the impact on small domestic manufacturers. It would be wonderful if exceptions can be made that would exempt them, but I have doubts that the geniuses in the CSPC will make the exceptions easy enough to comply with that mom-and-pop operations will be able to do so without excessive expense. We are WAY over-regulated in some areas, and WAY under-regulated in others (think mining, logging, banking, etc). There are toy-makers here in Maine that consist of ONE person in a home workshop - in fact, a lady was featured last night on the news that started making wooden toys, quit her job as an accountant, and is now producing wooden cars, trucks, boats, etc full-time.
 
  • #137


As I was putting up holiday lights (made in China), I read on the box there is residual lead on the surface of the wiring. Be sure to wash your hands well, before eating food. Here is an http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/christmas.lights/index.html" that relates to this. So they're giving fair warning, if you take time to read the fine print.
 
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  • #138


Ouabache said:
As I was putting up holiday lights (made in China), I read on the box there is residual lead on the surface of the wiring. Be sure to wash your hands well, before eating food. Here is an http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/christmas.lights/index.html" that relates to this. So they're giving fair warning, if you take time to read the fine print.

If only that warning had been included in the lead-painted lunchboxes for children.
 
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  • #139


Yes. Too sad, the Chinese think only of profit and totally disregard the safety of their customers. I wonder if China is a member of ISO or international organization for standardization? Is there anything like http://www.iso9001compliance.com china product? If there is, is it really a valid claim that the product is of good quality?
 
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  • #140


From what I have read and seen, the problem in China is more a lack of control rather than some kind of national conspiracy. China is a big place. And "death" was the sentence for at least one of the people involved in the melamine fiasco.
 
  • #141


Ivan Seeking said:
From what I have read and seen, the problem in China is more a lack of control rather than some kind of national conspiracy. China is a big place. And "death" was the sentence for at least one of the people involved in the melamine fiasco.

Lack of control and lack of the desire to control. China is a communist country, they can control it effectively if they really desire to.
 

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