Toxic toys made in China, what should we do?

  • Thread starter Grands
  • Start date
  • Tags
    China
In summary, Chinese made toys are dangerous and contain harmful plastics. They have a terrible smell and are very dangerous for kids that can lick them or put them in their mouth while they are playing.
  • #1
Grands
235
48
Hi guys.
I've recently seen a documentary that spoke about how toxic are toys which are made in China and sold in local shop.
It' a great problem because they contains an amount of plastics that do not respect European standard ( in my case) but I suppose also USA standards.
They have a terrible smell and are very dangerous for kids that can lick them or put them in their mouth while they are playing.

What's the problem?
That I see that every day a new chinese shops open and I don't know why authorities don't do something to avoid this huge problem.
They are poisoning our kids.

I also started to think that the majority of electronically products are made in China, so I started to be skeptical of everything I use.
I'm afraid of this situation, and I'm afraid of the fact that Cina will because more and more stronger, that they will dominate the market and oblige us to buy their products because are cheaper.
Obviously I'm talking about products that do not have the CE symbol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking

What's your opinion about?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #3
Can you import something in EU without CE mark ?
 
  • #4
Grands said:
I'm afraid of this situation, and I'm afraid of the fact that Cina will because more and more stronger, that they will dominate the market and oblige us to buy their products because are cheaper.
We are not "obliged" to buy products from China because they are cheaper. What value do you place on your children? Also, the high end toys that children want likely won't be cheap illegal knock offs from China. If money is an issue, maybe don't buy that pack of cigarettes or that bottle of wine, or that piece of expensive beef, have pasta instead, skip Starbucks, take sandwiches to work. I don't even use bread, I love lettuce wraps.
 
  • #5
It's more than just toys they are trying to whittle us down with. Car parts that don't work or fail prematurely, sheet rock that destroys plumbing and wiring, dishes and cookware that leech chemicals, the list is large.
 
  • Like
Likes Grands
  • #7
Greg Bernhardt said:
Buy local
Local shops are closing for this reason.
 
  • Like
Likes ISamson
  • #8
Buffu said:
Can you import something in EU without CE mark ?
No, but they counterfeit the logo CE and you cannot be sure if that product is safe.
 
  • #9
Evo said:
We are not "obliged" to buy products from China because they are cheaper.
None of us is obliged, but in our days, at least were I leave the new chinese shops are opening every day, so I'm afraid they will be anywhere and will obliged the local shops to close.
What's more?

They come here form China and buy local activities and restaurants, they have very cheap menu, a portion of pasta cost 3 euros, while in others restaurant 8 euros.
Why they are dominating?
Because of the economical crisi people prefer to spend the less possible.
Why chinese have so good prices in restaurants?
Because they do not send children to school, they don't have cars, they are happy to earn 5 euros per hours, plus they don't have a house, they sleep in their restaurant.
 
  • #10
Greg Bernhardt said:
Buy local
Grands said:
Local shops are closing for this reason.

Because people buy local? o_O
 
  • #11
Vanadium 50 said:
Because people buy local? o_O
No, they are closing because chinese open their cheap one, or in some cases they buy local activities.
 
  • #12
Grands said:
No, they are closing because chinese open their cheap one, or in some cases they buy local activities.
No, they are closing because PEOPLE are choosing to abandon their local community shops. You get what you deserve. Want cheap items, well, guess what, their going to BE cheap and cheap products are many times more likely to be used with suspicious low quality materials. You have the choice, choose local. It's a concept that I didn't fully appreciate until I moved out of downtown and into a close knit community. Now I actually live near the shop owners. I get it now. Keep the money in your neighborhood or city.
 
  • Like
Likes Grands and symbolipoint
  • #13
It's important to keep in mind that just because something is made in China doesn't necessarily mean that those products are inferior or dangerous. Manufacturing in China is highly varied and diverse, from some of the most advanced manufacturing in the world with very high standards all the way to sweatshops where corners are constantly cut.

Part of the difficulty is in determining which products are of high quality or safe, versus what isn't. This is a dilemma that Chinese consumers themselves face when looking for various goods. This is where stronger local regulation to properly inspect goods coming into the US or the EU would come in.
 
  • Like
Likes vela
  • #14
Grands said:
I've recently seen a documentary that spoke about how toxic are toys which are made in China ...
This is very old news. I've been seeing stories about it for years. A few years back, some of the most dangerous toys were removed from American stores.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo and fresh_42
  • #15
StatGuy2000 said:
It's important to keep in mind that just because something is made in China doesn't necessarily mean that those products are inferior or dangerous. Manufacturing in China is highly varied and diverse, from some of the most advanced manufacturing in the world with very high standards all the way to sweatshops where corners are constantly cut.

Part of the difficulty is in determining which products are of high quality or safe, versus what isn't. This is a dilemma that Chinese consumers themselves face when looking for various goods. This is where stronger local regulation to properly inspect goods coming into the US or the EU would come in.
Vague memories about studying the development of unions and manufacturing regulations including for consumer protection...
 
  • #16
Price - price - price... when it comes down to it, the #1 factor in most purchasing decisions is price, it is the one metric that is firm and always known. 2 toys on the shelf - 95% of the people will buy the cheaper one - you do not KNOW one is more safe than the other, you do not know if the labor was treated fairly, you do not know how long it will last - but you KNOW the price.

Honestly- China is implementing more regulations at a faster rate than most countries, on safety, environmental, and labor protection, it is really a long and drawn out equalization process.
 
  • Like
Likes symbolipoint
  • #17
Greg Bernhardt said:
No, they are closing because PEOPLE are choosing to abandon their local community shops. You get what you deserve. Want cheap items, well, guess what, their going to BE cheap and cheap products are many times more likely to be used with suspicious low quality materials. You have the choice, choose local. It's a concept that I didn't fully appreciate until I moved out of downtown and into a close knit community. Now I actually live near the shop owners. I get it now. Keep the money in your neighborhood or city.
Yes, they do that without understanding the consequences of their actions.
This is happening all with Amazon, that killed lots of tech shops ( in my area), and this is because you can buy exactly the same product, or in some cases a chinese version that is less expensive.

I personally ( It's just my opinion) don't agree with not buying product from people that came from outside and open a new in a small town.
I had friends that opened a food shop with a very different kind of food, but no one bought from it because people thought that we don't have to be open to "strangers", " outside culture mustn't be accepted".
Nowadays when it comes to choose a product they accept the chinese version just because it's less expensive.

This is happening for the way our economy works, who have the product that all the people want will have more probability to sell and make money, no matter if that product its toxic.

StatGuy2000 said:
It's important to keep in mind that just because something is made in China doesn't necessarily mean that those products are inferior or dangerous. Manufacturing in China is highly varied and diverse, from some of the most advanced manufacturing in the world with very high standards all the way to sweatshops where corners are constantly cut.
I partially agree.
When I enter in a chinese shop I fell the terrible smell from 2 meters.
That doesn't mean that all the product are bad, but from what I know, I never found an italian, german, japanese or american product that is unhealthy.

phinds said:
A few years back, some of the most dangerous toys were removed from American stores.
Also in some cities the police arrested chinese shop's owners.
 
  • #18
Grands said:
Also in some cities the police arrested chinese shop's owners
Please do not post statements like this without also posting a link to the valid source.

You might want to browse through the US government saftery recall site for consumer products. Your country, I'm sure also has one.

https://www.cpsc.gov/

and for food

https://www.foodsafety.gov/recalls/recent/index.html
 
  • #19
Grands said:
Nowadays when it comes to choose a product they accept the chinese version just because it's less expensive.

This is happening for the way our economy works, who have the product that all the people want will have more probability to sell and make money, no matter if that product its toxic.

No, this is either just plain wrong, or you're meaning something different than what you're typing. The only reason that toxic products get sold is because the consumer doesn't know they're toxic or just doesn't have any other choice and can't afford not to buy them. People don't purchase products they believe to be toxic as a general rule.

I also have a seriously difficult time believing that there are any modern and industrialized countries without appropriate safety standards in place and laws established to enforce these standards. You will certainly have people and companies that violate these standards, but as soon as the violation is discovered it is usually corrected quickly. I know of plenty of products here in the U.S. that have been recalled and/or banned over the years, but they only constitute a tiny fraction of all the products sold. I am confident that this is true for other countries as well.

Also remember that documentaries often portray their topics inaccurately. Exaggerations are quite common. They are often designed to attract attention instead of give the viewer an accurate picture and I wouldn't trust the accuracy of a documentary about a topic like this without corroborating evidence from other, independent, trustworthy sources.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #20
  • #21
I worked for a company that did some contract packaging for Knex - relevant art in the WSJ on this topic... outside of consumer pricing issues - it can just be better to do it here ( or local to the region) - there are other issues not mentioned in the article, and the whole Knex story is pretty good as well... another day...
 
  • #22
Why does anyone need to buy toys? Kids are perfectly capable of finding ways to entertain themselves with nothing more than a ball and some space to play.
 
  • Like
Likes Grands and Greg Bernhardt
  • #23
dipole said:
Why does anyone need to buy toys? Kids are perfectly capable of finding ways to entertain themselves with nothing more than a ball and some space to play.
Just for transparency, do you have kids of your own? I generally agree though, kids are given way too much.
 
  • Like
Likes Grands and jerromyjon
  • #24
dipole said:
Why does anyone need to buy toys? Kids are perfectly capable of finding ways to entertain themselves with nothing more than a ball and some space to play.
Greg Bernhardt said:
Just for transparency, do you have kids of your own? I generally agree though, kids are given way too much.
Children very much want a variety of fun diversions. This can be extremely helpful for children. Not all such young people will be satisfied with just a ball and some space to play.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo and Grands
  • #25
symbolipoint said:
Children very much want a variety of fun diversions. This can be extremely helpful for children. Not all such young people will be satisfied with just a ball and some space to play.

I'd have been bored out of my mind after a few minutes.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #26
When we give kids toys, we can expand their creativity but when we give them toys like today's Legos we diminish their creativity to build new things because the Legos have become the toys never to be taken apart (at least many kids view them as such).

I've had that experience with my kids and Legos whereas I was raised with Kenner's building sets, American bricks and Gilbert Erector sets. We would make our own toys with the parts and when we were tired of them remake them into new toys. Eventually, we made toys out of all sorts of junk. I remember making a starship out of a flat piece of wood, some cardboard wings and a Timex box for the cockpit. We made a space station from a lampshade and hung it in the garage to make a docking station.

Another creativity destroyer has been the prepackaged computer games. My first encounter with a computer was writing a game in Basic. Who does that now? I'd wager very few kids compared to the computer availability.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #27
When I was in High School, I spent hours a day working out how to throw a forkball (baseball pitch which for me was like a fast knuckleball).
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #28
What ever happened to using microscopes and making your own slides, using telescopes, sculpting toys out of balsa wood and soap bars? These things were fun! Of course we also made mud pies and forts out of sticks, rocks and mud. Do kids do these things anymore?
 
  • Like
Likes Grands and jedishrfu
  • #29
And here we sit in isolation, discussing the perils of technology using a global social media platform. Do people even meet face to face anymore?
 
  • #30
Windadct said:
And here we sit in isolation, discussing the perils of technology using a global social media platform. Do people even meet face to face anymore?

Nope, we're all bots now.
 
  • #31
Evo said:
What ever happened to using microscopes and making your own slides, using telescopes...
This year, my 8-year old nephew got his first telescope for christmas. Next year, if his uncle remembers, he's likely to get his first microscope kit...

...though that said, there is a good chance mine still exists and works.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #32
russ_watters said:
This year, my 8-year old nephew got his first telescope for christmas. Next year, if his uncle remembers, he's likely to get his first microscope kit...

...though that said, there is a good chance mine still exists and works.
Sounds like he has a good Uncle!

I remember when I was little, every Christmas I would ask for a Chemistry set, Sears sold different levels of them, but my mom didn't think it was a good idea, I had a microscope and a telescope, she was afraid of what I'd do with a chemistry set. I was already creating "potions" from household items.
 
  • #33
HA -- My father was a PhD Chemist - as a kid he basically made Thermite in the attic - it extinguished itself in the basement.
 
  • Like
Likes 256bits and Evo
  • #34
Greg Bernhardt said:
Keep the money in your neighborhood or city.
:frown: Pretty much everything on where I live is imported. Either from China or the US. Sometimes from Japan, but that's rare. No local products of anything.
Grands said:
No, but they counterfeit the logo CE and you cannot be sure if that product is safe.
This couldn't be more true. I saw a documentary in which in one part they explained how they could replicate perfect logos of different brands, etc. And. And. They were proud of it.
Evo said:
I was already creating "potions" from household items.
Evo was like: This is a potion, this is a Hi-Potion, this is a Max Potion... And then you had a Potion store. :-p
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
  • #35
Evo said:
I remember when I was little, every Christmas I would ask for a Chemistry set, Sears sold different levels of them, but my mom didn't think it was a good idea, I had a microscope and a telescope, she was afraid of what I'd do with a chemistry set. I was already creating "potions" from household items.
My mom smashed my chemistry set that I obtained myself because she thought I'd blow up the house. No, mom, I would have blown up OTHERS houses. So I guess it worked out.
 
  • Like
Likes Evo
<h2>What are the potential dangers of toxic toys made in China?</h2><p>The potential dangers of toxic toys made in China include exposure to harmful chemicals or heavy metals, which can cause short-term health effects such as skin irritation, nausea, or headaches, and long-term health effects such as cancer or developmental issues.</p><h2>How can we identify if a toy is toxic and made in China?</h2><p>To identify if a toy is toxic and made in China, you can check the label or packaging for the country of origin. You can also look for any warning labels or symbols indicating the presence of harmful substances. Additionally, do some research on the brand and manufacturer to see if they have a history of producing unsafe products.</p><h2>What should we do if we already have toxic toys from China?</h2><p>If you already have toxic toys from China, you should stop using them immediately and dispose of them properly. Contact the manufacturer or retailer to report the issue and request a refund or replacement. You can also report the product to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to help prevent others from purchasing the same dangerous toy.</p><h2>How can we prevent buying toxic toys from China?</h2><p>To prevent buying toxic toys from China, you can do some research on the brand and manufacturer before making a purchase. Look for products that are certified by reputable organizations such as the CPSC or ASTM International. You can also choose to buy from local or trusted retailers who have strict safety standards for the products they sell.</p><h2>What actions are being taken to address the issue of toxic toys made in China?</h2><p>The issue of toxic toys made in China is being addressed through increased regulations and enforcement by government agencies, such as the CPSC. Many companies have also implemented stricter safety standards and quality control measures to ensure their products are safe for consumers. Consumers can also play a role by staying informed and reporting any unsafe products they come across.</p>

What are the potential dangers of toxic toys made in China?

The potential dangers of toxic toys made in China include exposure to harmful chemicals or heavy metals, which can cause short-term health effects such as skin irritation, nausea, or headaches, and long-term health effects such as cancer or developmental issues.

How can we identify if a toy is toxic and made in China?

To identify if a toy is toxic and made in China, you can check the label or packaging for the country of origin. You can also look for any warning labels or symbols indicating the presence of harmful substances. Additionally, do some research on the brand and manufacturer to see if they have a history of producing unsafe products.

What should we do if we already have toxic toys from China?

If you already have toxic toys from China, you should stop using them immediately and dispose of them properly. Contact the manufacturer or retailer to report the issue and request a refund or replacement. You can also report the product to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to help prevent others from purchasing the same dangerous toy.

How can we prevent buying toxic toys from China?

To prevent buying toxic toys from China, you can do some research on the brand and manufacturer before making a purchase. Look for products that are certified by reputable organizations such as the CPSC or ASTM International. You can also choose to buy from local or trusted retailers who have strict safety standards for the products they sell.

What actions are being taken to address the issue of toxic toys made in China?

The issue of toxic toys made in China is being addressed through increased regulations and enforcement by government agencies, such as the CPSC. Many companies have also implemented stricter safety standards and quality control measures to ensure their products are safe for consumers. Consumers can also play a role by staying informed and reporting any unsafe products they come across.

Similar threads

Replies
13
Views
3K
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • General Discussion
Replies
28
Views
11K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • Beyond the Standard Models
Replies
30
Views
4K
  • STEM Career Guidance
Replies
2
Views
1K
Replies
79
Views
5K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
5
Views
1K
Replies
36
Views
12K
Replies
21
Views
4K
Back
Top