Webloggin » China Defends Its Toys

China is defending itself amid the growing scandals surrounding their lead based painted toys. Xinhua news agency reports that unnamed sources claim:

Although there are a few problems with some made-in-China toys, generally the safety quality is worthy of being trusted.

snip

The Chinese government and producers pay a great deal of attention to toy safety and quality, and have adopted tough certification standards to guarantee safety

I love how the Chinese government expects us all to believe that the “safety quality is worthy of being trusted” and that they “have adopted tough certification standards to guarantee safety. Do these same standards apply to the sewage seafood, faulty tires, tainted wheat gluten, and toxic toothpaste? If so, I’ll take a pass.

Within the same report, Xinhua stated that China exported “$7 billion worth of toys”. If I had to wager, I would say that China is less worried about the safety and is more worried about keeping its exports at the current numbers.

In my most recent article regarding China, I highlighted the many problems with Chinese exports and there is no way that any of those met tough certification standards. Two more products come to mind, the Kohl eyeshadow, that not only contained lead, but was also microbiological contaminated and the lead based side walk chalk that was sold by Toys R Us.

China can say that its toys are safe and that the recall numbers are low considering the number exported, but they are only referring to their toys. When you factor in the other things that have been recalled that number goes up. Think about the girls that are still using the eyeshadow because they do not realize that there was a recall on it or the children who put on those lead based gardening gloves to work in the garden with Mom.

I find this whole thing quite disturbing and down playing it is not the answer.

Other Reading:
The China Blog,Political Gateway