Another Chinese safety recall

[Miulang]

First it was toys, now it's kiddie journals (http://www.parentdish.com/2007/08/22/product-recall-spongebob-squarepants-address-books-and-journals/). Today the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturer of SpongeBob Squarepants address books and journals announced a voluntary recall due to high levels of lead in the paint used on the spiral bindings.

Miulang

[Composite 2992]

Another safety recall: Any seat on China Air Lines. :-)

[joshuatree]

Another safety recall: Any seat on China Air Lines. :-)

If you want to use a safe Taiwanese airline, use Eva Air. If you want to use a safe mainland China airline, use Cathay Pacific. Those are your best bets.

[lavagal]

First it was toys, now it's kiddie journals (http://www.parentdish.com/2007/08/22/product-recall-spongebob-squarepants-address-books-and-journals/). Today the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturer of SpongeBob Squarepants address books and journals announced a voluntary recall due to high levels of lead in the paint used on the spiral bindings.

Miulang

Thanks, Miulang. Will PriceBusters close its doors for all this recall CRAP? I swear, whenever there are keiki karnivals at school, there are all these prizes from China that instantly fall apart. What will PriceBusters do when their crap supply caves in? In fact, when you buy toiletries at PBs, you need to really pay attention. I wonder if my reading glasses will be recalled soon. I buy them by the dozens at PB! Sometimes when I'm thinking I put the earpiece in my mouth.

[Karen]

KSSK aired a cute little call today, very short. Dude said that the next safety recall of chinese products is going to be pesticides. He said they'll be recalled cuz they don't have any poison in 'em. Yeah, I did chuckle but I bet it's like....not so funny with me typing it here. :eek:

[Miulang]

Mattel suffers another black eye with the recall of an additional 700,000 lead-tainted toys (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/09/05/more_mattel_toys_recalled/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Business+News) (mostly from the Barbie accessory line that were manufactured during the last year). What's really bad is that Mattel is one of the American companies who has factories in China to produce their toys. So if Mattel's QA processes in China leave something to be desired, can you imagine how bad quality is for toys that are manufactured by Chinese-owned companies?

Man, Christmas is gonna look pretty damn sparse for the keiki this year!:(
Fewer toys, more books and clothes. Yuck.

Miulang

[LikaNui]

Mattel suffers another black eye with the recall of an additional (...) Just so you know, that info has already been in all the news media here in Hawai`i for several days. Our news sources must be ahead of yours there in Seattle. How cool!
:)

[Miulang]

With all the bad news about tainted Chinese (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090402284.html?hpid=moreheadlines)products, some of their neighbors are also starting to take a good look at the quality of the goods they import from China as well. What's been happening to those countries---as well as to us---is that the Chinese are retaliating by issuing counter charges and intimidating other governments into accepting the inferior quality goods. At least in this country we aren't (yet) so totally dependent on Chinese produced goods that we could not survive without them, as some Asian countries are.

In dealing with product safety complaints from the United States, China has sought to convince a concerned American public that it has reformed and is doing all it can to ensure the safety of its products. But its dealings with other, less-developed countries or those in vulnerable political positions are a different story, according to Husniah and officials in the Philippines and Malaysia.

Indonesian officials accuse China of pushing shoddy products and inferior standards on poor countries that have no choice but to depend on it for cheap goods, aid and investment. They say that China, in closed-door meetings, has refused to share basic information, attempted to horse-trade by insisting on discussing disparate issues as part of a single negotiation and all but threatened retaliatory trade actions. The Chinese respond that their products have been the victim of unfair trade actions.

In the Philippines in July, a state-owned Chinese company threatened to sue for defamation after the Philippine government released a public warning saying a popular brand of candy was contaminated with formaldehyde. In Hong Kong, China pushed the territory to reconsider its recall of toothpaste contaminated with a chemical that other countries said might be poisonous but that China argued was present at levels safe for human consumption. It then ordered Hong Kong to submit a report on how and why it called back the toothpaste.

In Malaysia, a ban on fungus-infested nuts and dried fruit with a carcinogenic sweetener from China was met with a Chinese alert on litchi-flavored yogurt from Malaysia that it said didn't meet labeling requirements.

Malaysia has long had a history of food safety issues with Chinese products. With each alert from Malaysia, the Chinese Embassy requests an explanation. "When they call us, we have to accept they are coming to us," said Abdul Rahim Mohamad, director of food safety and quality at Malaysia's Health Ministry.

Chinese food-safety officials argue that the recalls and bans by other countries amount to technical trade barriers that attempt to legitimize what would otherwise be unfair trade practices.