Warning: Made In China Using Products From China Could Kill You

[vujsa 0]

Let me stat by saying that I have nothing against Chinese people and aside from a difference in politics, I have no problem with the country of China. However, the lack of quality control and the overwhelming number of low paying jobs has caused a lot of problems in the U.S. recently.For a long time I think most people have assumed that products from China were not of the highest quality but nobody expected to be poisoned by Chinese products. In Spring 2007, a large number of dogs and cats became very ill with many dying as a result of contaminated pet food. The contamination was traced back to the wheat gluten tat was imported from China. The thing that really bothers me about this is that the U.S. has the ability to feed the entire World with it's own wheat production, so we don't even need to import wheat gluten from China. We import it to help promote trade with China and keep friendly relations alive. It turns out that the person determined to be responsible for allowing the contaminated food product to be sent to the U.S. was arrested by the Chinese government and was executed by hanging. So a few Americans had some of their pets die, right? Well, wheat gluten is used for human consumption as well. This food product could have been purchased by a restaurant chain or food manufacturer instead of a pet food company! A few thousand pet poisonings could have been a few thousand human poisonings. Obviously, the U.S. government has banned wheat gluten imports from the Chinese company that allowed the contaminated product to be sent to the U.S. Okay, one Chinese company made a mistake or maybe just didn't know that they had sent bad product. Does that give me the right to complain about all Chinese made products? The answer is "No"! Knowing their quality of product and not understanding the need to import wheat gluten, I just figured that it was a matter of time before something like this happened. What I didn't expect was for another issue to pop up so soon. I figured that they would have learned their lesson and tried to improve their quality control structure.In the summer of 2007, A very large toy manufacturer was forced to recall million of products made in China. Apparently, China didn't get the memo that lead paint is bad. Lead poisoning causes brain damages and leads to developmental problems in children even at small doses. Maybe the person in charge of product safety eat too many paint chips as a child. Millions of toys sent to the U.S. have been painted with lead paint. These are common toys and it is very likely that they are in many countries around the World. Ultimately, the toy company is responsible for the safety of the final product and should have checked the toys for safety before they were accepted but the problem was missed. So, China was finally informed that lead paint is not safe for children toys. Alright, two little situations that could have been avoided if the U.S. companies had fully tested the poison content of the products prior to distribution to the public. Should I really get so upset? Well, the story hasn't ended yet. Just a few weeks after the lead poison issue, yet another problem was found!That's right, last week is was announced that single use toothpaste made in China for hotels is also toxic! Diethylene glycol, a chemical used in automobile antifreeze, may be present in some toothpaste produced in China! This stuff is toxic to humans and animals to the point of death! Most people know that swallowing toothpaste in not good for you and swallowing enough toothpastes can make you sick but that is without a highly toxic chemical like diethylene glycol!Is China cutting too many corners to be able to afford to get manufacturing contracts with American companies? Will they improve their safety record in the next few years? Is it just a coincidence that there have been three major issues in such a short time and because of the short time they haven't been able to make all of the necessary changes yet? Aside from it's unbelievably large workforce, does China have anything to offer the World if they can't produce safe products?I ask these questions because they are the questions that everyone that uses products made in China should be asking. If you have never used a product made in China, I'd be surprised. China is quickly becoming on of the wealthiest countries in the World but most of it's citizens will ever benefit from that wealth. Most of the people in China would leave their job if offer just a few more cents per day in pay and many do. I'm not talking about a lot more money, maybe less than one U.S. dollar a week! As a result, a factory may find that none of the employees showed up for work one morning because they took jobs at the factory across town. Or worse yet, the employees show up but the government didn't tell you that it was your day not to have electricity. That's right, not every factory in China can have electricity at once! They have to rotate the electrical usage. Many of the better factories have managed to install their own generators so that they can run the factory as much as they want. That is of course if there isn't a fuel shortage.So the next time you see a Scion driving down the street and think it is a cute car, remember, the few that were tested were safe but the one you are looking at may not be. I'm not suggesting that be ban all products made in China but I do believe that we need to let China know that they need to ensure that the products they make are safe for everyone. Maybe if China was to care enough about its people to have banned lead paint already, millions of children may not be a a greater risk of developmental problems. After all, how can Chinese companies ensure the safety of the products they export if they don't bother checking the safety of the products they use.Basically, China is over populated and the government there has finally found a way to cash in on that problem. The only reason that China executed the guy they said was responsible for checking the safety of the wheat gluten is because he embarrassed the country. Instead of executing him, maybe they should have asked him what he needed to be sure it wouldn't happen again. Without the Chinese government implementing strict safety laws for all products manufactured in China and with continued low pay for the workforce, I believe that the problem will only get worse.Well, at least I have an opinion,vujsa

[Sten 0]

here in australia they have recalled millions of toys that were made in china because of lead paint and tiny magnets the chines put in them.i think they were mattel toys, i cant remember, the company lost $30,000000 because of it.

[jimmy89 0]

Yeah, I also heard about the toys being recalled, but the Pet Food is a new one to me! I didn't hear of that! And you have raised some very valid points here, we have seen this so far, but what else is happening hat we don't know of (yet). Nothing against the Chinese!

[vujsa 0]

here in australia they have recalled millions of toys that were made in china because of lead paint and tiny magnets the chines put in them.i think they were mattel toys, i cant remember, the company lost $30,000000 because of it.

Well, the magnet issue is kind of a design flaw on the part of the toy company. But the toy is designed to be magnetic so it is hard not to have the magnets. I guess that they may want to not make toys that require small magnets but the suggested age for the product was for children less likely to swallow such items. While I wouldn't suggest it, swallowing a small magnet causes relatively few problems other than it takes a long time to pass and won't break down. The real problem is when 2 or more magnets are swallowed in a short period of time.

When 2 or more magnets are in the intestines at the same time, they tend to attract each other. This attraction first causes intestinal blocking as the magnets won't move since they are held in place by each other. After time, the attraction becomes more and more of a problem as the magnets actually tear the intestinal walls holding them apart.

Keep in mind that a lot of toys use small magnets and some toys are magnets. A fun building toy that seems to be popular is made up entirely of various shaped magnets. Despite the recall on toys containing magnets, I believe that magnets will continue to be used safely in many toys in the future.

As for the Chinese, I really don't have anything else to say with regaurds to this issue.

vujsa

[lonelym 0]

Before I thought that most 'made-in-china' items were of average value, but I guess you opened my eyes. O_O

[Ronel 0]

Wow! In here, many in here sell products made in China! "They're cheap," that's what others say, but I don't think that is a good reason to buy "some" Chinese foods.In another news, they say that some foods, including the favorite White Rabbit, has been contaminated by formalin. Chinese products are becoming more dangerous to be imported here. What the heck is China doing to its economy? Does the officials know that these news can uprupt their economy? Shouldn't Chinese companies in China try now to analyze their products?I don't know about you, you're countries should call on a major analysis of all China products, and major product recalls.(It was already done here!)

Edited August 27, 2007 by Ronel (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

OK, I knew that I took a risk when I bought my "Made in China" tee-shirst. But I knew the risk, and the only problem I had was that after first washing they bacame too small. It's a minor problem.But I was really afraid when I bought a remote control for my TV. When I opened the box, I saw a "WARNING : this device respects the chinese security standards". What does that mean ? Does that mean that it does not respect european/american security standards ? Does that mean that using this TV remote control is dangerous ? Very nice, because if somebody want to sell something in USA, it must fit the american security standards ; devices sold in Europe must fit european security standards. Warning, chinese security compliant seems to say "warning, there may be danger!"

[toby 0]

One bad ethic over there is their emissions, I believe their line was "We will become a developed country before tackling our carbon dioxide", they are almost equal to America.

[vujsa 0]

Well, the lead paint problem with toys manufactured in China has not gotten any better. Since the first problem, toy companies have started testing all of their toys that were manufactured in China and found many more are contaminated. While China may have actually stopped using the paint for our children's toys, products already shipped and sold to customers more than likely have some degree of contamination. The only way to know for sure is to buy a lead test kit and test each of you child's toys.Just released this week, the country of Australia has banned Aquadots. The beads are contaminated with a chemical that date rapist use to subdue their victims. This is a very dangerous chemical for Adults and even more so with children. Children placing these in their mouth could slip into a coma or even die.Again, does China have any consideration for the safety of the users of the products manufactured in their country? At this point in time, I can only recommend that if you value your safety, don't purchase ANYTHING made or assembled in China. I generally don't like making suggestions like that but if we continue to buy from China, they will continue to overlook basic safety standards to increase their profits! Maybe if we discontinue buying from China, the Chinese government or even business owners will improve safety to get the rest of use to start buying from them again.vujsa

[mHelmy 0]

China's economy has grown so fast. Look at this graph :

 

 

Almost all economic aspects in china are increased. As you know and see, products from china are spreading the world, including my country. And many of them are home industries because China has the largest number of citizens in the world. But this rapid growth is not followed by quality control regulation.

 

And more... China's black markets are also growing. And there's a joke about it :

A : "Please, buy this handphone... the same functionality at the very low price"

B : "Why is it so cheap ? Does it have any warranty ?"

A : "I give you a week to test. If you don't like it, bring it here and I will replace"

B : "After a week, any warranty ?"

A : "No, it's from black market"

B : "It must be from china..."

[vujsa 0]

Well finally after several major issues this year, the Chinese government has decided to ban shipment of any toys that contain toxins.Of course, they aren't actually going to check for any toxins but instead will limit their efforts to the products already determined to be tainted! Considering that most companies have canceled their orders for these toys and stopped using the manufacturers of the tainted items, the Chinese efforts are really kind of pointless. Toy Company: "We don't want your toxic toys anymore."Chinese Government: "We don't care if you don't want them, you can't have them."vujsa

[iGuest 3]

Lead paint should not be used on toys since children may not be aware of its toxicity and accidentally may get it in their mouth. However it would take significant amounts of paint swallowed before any damage may happen. Lead compounds don't absorb easily into the body so the child would literally have to chew the paint off the toys then swallow it to get a toxic amount. Please don't blow things out of proportions. This is a theoretical risk much the same like products that pose a strangulation risk such as bicycle helmets, plastic bags etc. Products gets pulled from the stores all the time due to similar risks.Regarding AquaDot; yes it contained minute amounts of GHB (due to a mixup), far too low to pose any danger. It was never intended to be eaten anyway.This could have happened with any you.S. Produced toy and it does happen.And remember; you get what you pay for. China could produce far more first class products if you were willing to pay just a little more. Eventually, Chinese products will be similar in quality or superior to EU/US prodcuts. It's just a matter of time.-OrcaLover