Is China Trying to Kill Us?

[3113]

Or are we just trying to kill ourselves because we keep buying this shit from China? (That would be my vote!) Seriously! This is getting frigging scary, especially as four out of these five examples involve children.

Example 1: Pet Food
Example 2: Thomas & Fred Wood Trains
Example 3: Mattel Toys:

First it was tens of millions of containers of pet food recalled because of tainted ingredients from China; then it was 1.5 million of the popular Thomas & Friends wood trains, made in China, recalled for lead paint. Two weeks ago, El Segundo-based Mattel Inc., one of the most trusted names in playthings, jolted consumers with warnings that 1.5 million of its Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys also could contain lead paint.

And...Mattel recalled more than 18 million more toys worldwide because of new worries about lead paint and, because of design problems, magnets that can come loose and cause serious health problems if swallowed.

Example #4: Lunch totes (This one's REALLY ironic):

[California] State finds lead hazard in its free lunch totes
The hundreds of thousands of lunchboxes given away by state health officials were designed to promote healthful habits, bearing slogans such as "Eat Fruits & Vegetables and Be Active." Just one problem: At least some of them were made with unhealthful levels of lead. The California Department of Public Health said Thursday that it was recalling 300,000 green and blue canvas lunch coolers made in China and distributed throughout the state at health fairs and other events since 2004.

And last, certainly not funny at all...Example 5: Cribs:

1 million cribs being recalled after deaths: The Simplicity and Graco models -- made in China -- feature faulty parts that can lead to infant suffocation.

 

[rgraham666]

We want cheap goods. That requires, in the beliefs of the people that make the manufacturing decisions, a 19th Century level of regulations and wages. China delivers that.

If a few faulty products are made and people are injured or worse, shrugs, it's just the price of doing business.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Mattelhas apologised to China for blaming the factories.

Read the article verrry carefully-- talk about a tap-dance!

 

[oggbashan]

If so they're taking a long term view of it

When real-life Og was young, most toys had lead paint. We even collected lead soldiers. Our plumbing was mainly made of lead. Our houses were painted with lead-based paints.

Some of our toys had sharp edges. They certainly had small swallowable parts.

Our food was contaminated with pesticides and full of cancer-inducing additives. Our air was polluted with smoke and industrial effluent.

Our playgrounds were abandoned bombsites with unexploded ordnance. Some beaches were strewn with mines and small arms ammunition.

A few kids died. The numbers were small and our parents were aware that living had risks. Many of their siblings or friends had died in infancy or early childhood from diseases and other causes that were no longer a threat.

Risk is relative. The automobile kills more children than lead paint on toys will do. Perhaps China should stop selling us toys and sell us more cars?

Og

 

[Oblimo]

When real-life Og was young, most toys had lead paint. We even collected lead soldiers. Our plumbing was mainly made of lead. Our houses were painted with lead-based paints.

Some of our toys had sharp edges. They certainly had small swallowable parts.

Our food was contaminated with pesticides and full of cancer-inducing additives. Our air was polluted with smoke and industrial effluent.

Our playgrounds were abandoned bombsites with unexploded ordnance. Some beaches were strewn with mines and small arms ammunition.

And we were thankful!

I had Lawn Jarts--the game where you threw freakin' javelins at each other. Looking back, I'm glad I wasn't one of the unlucky few who punctured a lung (mine of my friend Daren's, who loved the game but couldn't aim for crap). I think it had everything to do with luck, not my intelligence (and certainly not my skill at...jarting?)

I don't mind paying extra for lead-free stuff, eithe, I must admit.

 

[flavortang]

China is trying to kill YOU, 3113. Look out behind you! It's China... with a butcher knife!

 

[Pure]

mattel's apology to China is VERY interesting.... they[Mattel] are shouldering the blame.... (since China puts billions in their pocket every year, do NOT get them angry.)

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

My guess is, China is not trying to kill us. We are their bread and butter businesswise and they own a substantial piece of the U.S. (Thank you, Mr. Bush)

The problem is, they are playing the same game on us that we've played on eveyone else for years. It's called "Specifications". The problem is companies like Wal-Mart and Mattle are not socially conscience and expect their suppliers to be exactly that.

Does Wal-Mart really care that they put hundreds of thousands of american workers in the unemployment line by moving their purchases to China? Does Mattle? Not really as long as they are stuffing billions in their pockets.

And when Mattle and Wal-Mart specify the products they buy from China, do yoiu suppose the include anything about lead based paint, parts that could be swollowed by toddlers, cribs with sides that won't come loose and strangle babies or cap guns the go "Bang" ranther than "KABOOM" taking off the hands of the little tykes playing with them?

I doubt it.

When the CEO of Mattle appologized, it was for just this reason. They took responsibility for their own failures to correctly specify those things that the laws of this country require all products to meet.

The question is this: Were those specifications purposly left out or was it just a slip up? Another way to ask the question is: Did Mattle not specify those requirments because their cost would have been 15 or 20% higher, or is the world's largest toy "manufacturer" so fucking stupid they forgot?

You can make up your own mind.

 

[Boota]

I had Lawn Jarts--the game where you threw freakin' javelins at each other. Looking back, I'm glad I wasn't one of the unlucky few who punctured a lung (mine of my friend Daren's, who loved the game but couldn't aim for crap). I think it had everything to do with luck, not my intelligence (and certainly not my skill at...jarting?)

When I was a kid a little girl down the street was playing Lawn Jarts and one them came down right on top of her head and buried its entire point in her skull. She got lucky, though. The point went right between the halves of her brain and didn't do any real damage. She did kind of look like a faulty salt shaker for a while, but once the hair they shaved to work on her grew back she was good as new.

 

[Oblimo]

When I was a kid a little girl down the street was playing Lawn Jarts and one them came down right on top of her head and buried its entire point in her skull. She got lucky, though. The point went right between the halves of her brain and didn't do any real damage. She did kind of look like a faulty salt shaker for a while, but once the hair they shaved to work on her grew back she was good as new.

My initial reaction to this was, "Cool!" Is that bad?

 

[JPMMURPHY]

No, they aren’t trying to kill us. They just want to own us. They would certainly be happy with our demise if they got the spoils. But I don’t really think they need to work too hard to kill is. Just wait a year or two and we’ll commit economic suicide. Then there’ll be a fire sale of what’s left.

I understand the politician’s short-sightedness (what a bunch of whores – I have no idea how they sleep at night) but I really don’t understand Corporate America’s lack of vision beyond this fiscal year’s bottom-line.

 

[Boota]

My initial reaction to this was, "Cool!" Is that bad?

I don't think so. LOL. She's fine, it's all good.

 

[rgraham666]

I really don’t understand Corporate America’s lack of vision beyond this fiscal year’s bottom-line.

We're a 'rational' society. This fiscal year's bottom line is 'rational'. Anything beyond that requires imagination, intuition and a knowledge of history. None of those qualities is rational and are therefore ignored.

Also, Corporate America is not responsible. Or at least the people at the top aren't. If they pilot a company into the ground it will usually crash after they've bailed. Even if it does crash while they occupy the executive offices the same golden parachutes still work. They suffer no adverse consequences for their irresponsible actions.

On top of that, they have a feudal mindset. Their first allegiance is to their class, the corporate management class. That is their primary concern. They may wear flag pins and talk endlessly of America but they couldn't care less. As long as their class survives and thrives, America, or any other nation for that matter, can go into the shitter.

 

[3113]

Corporate America is not responsible. Or at least the people at the top aren't. If they pilot a company into the ground it will usually crash after they've bailed. Even if it does crash while they occupy the executive offices the same golden parachutes still work. They suffer no adverse consequences for their irresponsible actions.

An apt point. It used to be that leaders of companies took the hit if the company crashed and burned. Bosses and managers could be fired and lose everything if their branch failed, the owner/creators of companies really cared because it was their company, their name, their investment.

But as you say, now if they fire a CEO, he leaves with millions in his pocket, and no one running the company seems to feel that it's "their" company and they need to do right by it. They certainly don't feel answerable to the stock holders beyond, as you say, a fiscal year's bottom line. If they can say, "We made money this fiscal year!" the stock holders are happy (believing the company is doing well) and the CEO need not mention that the long-term prognosis is not good. Which is why he'll be bailing out and taking a new job before the next fiscal year.

 

[rgraham666]

I know most people dislike Heinlein's book Starship Troopers, but it taught me a very important lesson: That responsibility and authority are always equal.

Responsibility without authority is silly. How can you honestly blame someone for an action or event they had no hand in?

Authority without responsibility ends up with the situation I've outlined for Corporate America.

But like a negative electrical charge responsibility builds up until it overloads any insulation or cutout. A big enough charge will cause great destruction to anything caught in its path.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

No, they aren’t trying to kill us. They just want to own us. They would certainly be happy with our demise if they got the spoils. But I don’t really think they need to work too hard to kill is. Just wait a year or two and we’ll commit economic suicide. Then there’ll be a fire sale of what’s left.

I understand the politician’s short-sightedness (what a bunch of whores – I have no idea how they sleep at night) but I really don’t understand Corporate America’s lack of vision beyond this fiscal year’s bottom-line.

Look. Herbert Hoover said it best: The business of business is business.

So, what is the basis of business - To make money, maximize your profits while minimizing your input.

So, Mattel, Wal-Mart, Target and all the chain retailers in America are doing just that. For example, the fact that Wal-Mart destroyed Rubber Maid means nothing in the bigger picture which is driven only by profit margins. This is not even new. Sears has done the same thing for fifty years.

No one in upper management in corporate America gives a shit about you, me or even their own workers. All they see is six and seven figure bonuses for doing what business is in business for - make a lot of money to grow and distribute to the shareholders.

Mattel's great crime is not that they bought and distributed dangerous toys, but that they got caught.

 

[WRJames]

When real-life Og was young, most toys had lead paint. We even collected lead soldiers. Our plumbing was mainly made of lead. Our houses were painted with lead-based paints.

Some of our toys had sharp edges. They certainly had small swallowable parts.

Our food was contaminated with pesticides and full of cancer-inducing additives. Our air was polluted with smoke and industrial effluent.

Our playgrounds were abandoned bombsites with unexploded ordnance. Some beaches were strewn with mines and small arms ammunition.

A few kids died. The numbers were small and our parents were aware that living had risks. Many of their siblings or friends had died in infancy or early childhood from diseases and other causes that were no longer a threat.

Risk is relative. The automobile kills more children than lead paint on toys will do. Perhaps China should stop selling us toys and sell us more cars?

Og

Yeah -- people smoked and drank whiskey. I used to inspect demolition work that was full of asbestos. We should all be dead, or at least brain-dead, by now. Maybe we are and we just don't know it.

 

[Handprints]

Sorry, who's trying to kill whom?

The US encourages the export of goods which fail American safety standards. Guess where a lot of them end up? Here's the story, from the increasingly cool SacBee:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/10/3748/

H

 

[Le Jacquelope]

When real-life Og was young, most toys had lead paint. We even collected lead soldiers. Our plumbing was mainly made of lead. Our houses were painted with lead-based paints.

Some of our toys had sharp edges. They certainly had small swallowable parts.

Our food was contaminated with pesticides and full of cancer-inducing additives. Our air was polluted with smoke and industrial effluent.

Our playgrounds were abandoned bombsites with unexploded ordnance. Some beaches were strewn with mines and small arms ammunition.

A few kids died. The numbers were small and our parents were aware that living had risks. Many of their siblings or friends had died in infancy or early childhood from diseases and other causes that were no longer a threat.

Risk is relative. The automobile kills more children than lead paint on toys will do. Perhaps China should stop selling us toys and sell us more cars?

Og

They're about to export their Cherry cars to the US.

Find religion now.

 

[cantdog]

Find religion now.

I found it, but it was pretty pointless, so I threw it back.