The Portrait of an Olympic Host -- China's problems with lead go beyond
toys/CTV

China's problems with lead go beyond toys

Updated Wed. Aug. 15 2007 10:12 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Chinese-made vinyl baby bibs should be pulled from store shelves because
they may contain too much lead paint, an environmental group said
Wednesday, in the latest allegation of shoddy manufacturing to hit the
country.

The bibs, sold in Toys "R" Us stores in the U.S., have amounts of lead
up to four times what the Environmental Protection Agency allows in
paint, claimed the California-based Center for Environmental Health.

Toys "R" Us said earlier tests concluded the bibs had acceptable limits
of lead, but is now testing the products again.

The environmental group bought four bibs in the San Francisco Bay-area
and tested them at a private lab.

Earlier this week, Mattel Inc., the largest U.S. toy company, recalled
millions more Chinese-made toys on Tuesday due to safety risks from lead
paint and warned it may recall additional products as it steps up testing.

More than 80 per cent of the world's toys are manufactured in China, and
many are from small producers that are resistant to regulation. They
make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that often have a lead content
well above internationally accepted limits and even above limits set by
the Chinese government.

Lead is often added to paint to make colours brighter. But it's also
well known to cause damage to the nervous and reproductive systems and
lead to brain damage and birth defects.

China has joined developed countries in tightening controls on lead, but
the rules are difficult to enforce in a society with a thriving
underground industry producing substandard goods. And low-level
authorities often are reluctant to force changes that might hurt local
companies.

With the recent recall of Chinese-made toothpaste, pet foods and tires,
the country is gaining a reputation for goods that are shoddy and hazardous.

"It does hurt the made-in-China label in the short term, definitely,"
says journalist James McGregor, author of One Billion Customers.

"Whether it hurts the made-in-China label in the long term is up to
China and cleaning up their act and being transparent."

But the authoritarian-run Chinese government is not known for its
transparency, and on state television, there has not been a mention of
one of the world's largest toy recalls.

For Chinese parents, worries about lead competes with worries about the
many other toxins in the heavily polluted country. While the country has
phased out leaded gasoline, house paint, old pipes and buildings and
factories are still big sources of lead and poisonings are frequent.

Last year, 877 villagers near a lead smelter in the northwest's Gansu
province, including 334 children under 14, suffered lead poisoning,
according to state media. The smelter's owners later admitted they ran
it at night with its pollution-control gear turned off to save money,
news reports said.

A study of 5,000 children in Dongguan, a boomtown near Hong Kong, found
that 22.1 per cent had lead in their blood in excess of safe levels,
according to the newspaper Yangcheng Evening News.

Still, analysts say the blame doesn't lie only with Chinese
manufacturers. They point to major foreign buyers that are demanding
lower and lower prices, forcing Chinese factories to cut corners.

China is undergoing its industrial revolution, and that means many
regulatory bodies are simply not yet up to standard or even
non-existent. They are receiving help from the American FDA and European
Union to build such regulations, but it will take time.

At the same time, factory owners are having to increase wages due to a
labour shortage spurred by China's one-child policy.

"If they were transparent about the pressure their factory owners are
under to cut prices, if they're transparent about how they have a lot of
poor people, and how this is a developing country that is just getting
its regulatory system together, people would be sympathetic," believes
McGregor.

How quickly the made-in-China label recovers depends in large part on
China's honesty with the world. But with the Olympics less than a year
away, the image-conscious nation may find it hard to admit its weaknesses.

With a report from Steve Chao, CTV Beijing Bureau Chief
Please Add Comments(53)

Ronald Hon
It is not fair to blame only the Chinese manufacturers but not the toy
companies. To manufacture a product, the manufacturer must follow a pile
of detail specs providing from the buyer. The specs should include the
product design, the dimensions of each individual part, and the
materials uses. Also they should have quality control on each procedure.
For big companies or importers, they practice to assign own associates
for quality controls and hire third parties for final checks before
shipping and releasing products into the market. It is reasonable to
believe the current safety and materials issues from Chinese products
involve improper product designs and ineffective quality controls where
the toy companies should hold responsible for their negligence.

Brian Fowler
Why doesn't China outsource this manufacturing to another country that
doesn't use lead paint?

Craig
I miss the days when everything said "Made in Japan".

Chris
Whatever happened to the "Buy Made In Canada" campaign of the 80s and
early 90s? I remember when Wal-Mart was heavily criticized for marketing
largely American-made products in their Canadian outlets. Those days
were a paradise to the times we live in now. And guess what: it's going
to get worse. Parents, buy Canadian, American or European toys for your
children, or better yet, MAKE YOUR OWN!

Buster Brown
Although cheap Chinese consumer items are a bargain at the till they are
not worth the loss of jobs to the Americas, the pollution and the many
other environmental hazards that are ignored just to produce a cheaper
product.

Carlo A
This is merely a symptom of Western corporate buying practices. Where
buyers are hammered by their superiors to find the cheapest price, while
due dilligence is not recognized. There's never money to buy from the
right supplier, but lots of money to fix a wrong supplier.

Tom
Makes one wonder how long this has been going on. Years and years of
toys etc flooding into the US and Canada from China without the checks
and testing that is 'supposedly' going on now. This will not be better
as the Chinese gov't at the end of the day doesn't really care about the
problem and the country is too huge and too much manufacturing is going
to police all of it. Too bad US companies like walmart are just as bad
as the Chinese in their cut-throat mentality, ensuring that the problems
are so entranched they will never be solved by the 'officials'. Best
solution is as Chris said. If it says 'Made in China', don't buy it no
matter what it is.

James
This is what happens when people forget about safety and it becomes all
about cheap, and lots of it. We are such a superficial society that we
have forgotten about the basics.
We deserve it.

Richard Bradley
One might also note that not a single item produced so cheaply in China
has brought about a reduction at the retail level here. Are huge CEO
payoffs the only thing that matters?
I really don't care to increase my lead intake to improve their gold assets.

William E. Wilson
Cheap goods like this continue to prove the saying "You get what you pay
for."

Carl
What ever happened to the much loved label "Made in USA", which was so
craved for the world over ?

jerry
I am surprised that no one is laying the blame where it belongs, on
Mattel, the distributor. Mattel is signing purchasing contracts which
defines the manufacturing deal. It is their accountability as they are
the ones profiting from this. Don't try and lay the blame on the poor
workers who are being exposed to this poison daily.

If Mattel did what they should and employ enough staff members than we
would not be having this discussion. It is their responsibility and only
theirs to ensure all of their products are meeting all the Canadian
standrads.

Grenville
One acronym...ISO

Unless ISO standards are met with the manufacture of goods any component
part of said goods then the product should not be allowed to be sold in
Canada.

It's really quite simple. All manufactured goods that we import should
meet ISO standards with no exceptions.

We should also have an ISO for Health and Safety. Foreign companies
shuld have to comply with/to the same regulations that domestic
manufacurers are required...

My 2 cents

Diego.Garcia
Lead paint in kids toys is clearly bad but this all seems to be part of
an orchestrated smear campaign by the U.S. against China in order to get
them to revalue the Yuan. The concerns about the quality of Chinese
products is the same as the concerns about the quality of Japanese
products in the 1980s. Then it was was to motivate Japan to revaule
their currency and lower the trade imbalance between Japan and the U.S.
(and others). It led to the signing of the Plaza Accord by the G5. Japan
doubled the value of its currency and put itself into a recession that
it has still not come out of.

Pat S.
Cheaper good = cheaper prices. But the big picture is bigger profit$ for
corporation$. They'll continue to use China as prices are cheaper, and
they make more $$$. All corporations go for is big bucks in the first
place...

Grace
Consumers are the source of evil! We should not have been greedy,
wanting more things all the time.

NP
Someday China will be too expensive to do business with. Corporate greed
and shortsighted consumers, will have to pick on another emerging
economy, for cheap labour and substarndard items.
Wait. This article mentioned shortage of labour. Wages going up.
That evil equation again. SUPPLY AND DEMAND. The end is nigh.

Micheal
It's very easy to say something, but it's very hard to do. Have you ever
try not to buy Chinese products? How many items produced in China are
there in your home and you are useing them dayly? I would tell you that
no metter how poisoning or dangerous their products are, you are still
going to buy them. Today is the day that you could not live without
"Made in China."

John Doe
As mean as this sounds, the Chinese have known of these problems for
years. In China the people try to buy products not made in China as they
know of the poor quality control.

For this problem to stop there is only one solution on an individual
level. Look at the products you buy and if they say made in China then
look for products made elsewhere.

Cris
ISO is good in theory but in a society where there are no real concerns
about self-regulation, ISO will not work. This is the third product line
coming from China that has served notice about their poor manufacturing
standards. What other risks are we exposed to because importers are
sacrificing quality for profit.

Zhi Yu
These toys are not available in the Chinese market!!! they are made for
Mattel, why Mattel didn't check the lead level 5 years ago? Why these
toys got imported in Canada without notice?

Wilf K
Re Brian Fowler's question about out-sourcing: Why would they, when they
can (at the moment, anyway) undercut most Western manufacturers? They
can make items at vastly lower prices, and western companies are
gobbling them up.

J. Granda
What about the purchasing practices of North American corporations?
Prices are forced so low that businesses overseas are left scrambling to
make a profit. This often results in poor working conditions for
employees and lower product standards. The underlying issues are greed
and our ongoing desire for the lowest price as a consumer.

TracI Rose
The other things we need to consider are all the plastics bags and
packaging which are also being purchased at an increased rate. They have
a lot of printed messages on them, some are completely printed over the
entire surface. Bags have already been tested in the US. Some of the
States have already banned
them being brought in. They were found to contain lead and Heavy Metals.
Thank you

Sue
I have definitely changed my buying habits and will continue to.

Sheldon
Supply and demand drives our market place. We are the problem not China.
We keep buying cheaper products without knowing the overall cost. We
have been outsourcing manufacturing for years. Our jobs have been sent
to the third world and we support it by buying cheap products. Big
business is only feeding our demand, don't blame them. Start supporting
Made in USA and Canada. We simply have better quality but it wil cost
more but you will have a job to pay for it.

Patrick
Stop using the products "Made in China"?!!! Unfortunately, China does
not make just cheap toys and clothes, as it did several year ago. Check
your computer, you will find most of parts are from China. We already
could not live without products from China. Who push china in this
place? Those western international corporations.

Ross Clive
USA have a huge trade imbalance with China...therefore attack...take a
swipe at its product...critique its quality...anything to balance trade.
Remember the lumber dispute, another example of trade imbalance. Then
there's the beef! Our neighbors to the south constantly repeat this
tactic why should we be surprised?

Skye
If I remember correctly didn't we used to have a BUY CANADIAN MADE
promotion which would create and keep Canadians working and be a boost
to our economy? This would benefit so many in so many ways if we all
supported our own people working - and maybe at the same time get some
off the welfare system - this would be done by suppling full time work
for a living wage.

Felix
Textiles, Furnitures,Toys, the list will grow!! when will this unfair
practices stop!! so we can compete with China and offer a better and
safe product

jsmommy
It's really sad that I no longer feel safe buying toys for my child that
are supposed to make his little eyes light up. What are we supposed to do?

Wayne Underhill
Here we go with our usual head in the sand approach again. When it comes
to goods from China the main impetous is greed. We have become a nation
of consumers not manufacturers and we have given over control of what
comes into the country to vested interests. We don't have enough
inspectors to apprehend deficient products before they reach the
marketplace. As a result it is only after problems arise that we are
alerted to them. To think that we can exercise any control over
production in China itself is a fairy tale. The only message the chinese
will get is if under strict inspection we start holding their shipments
up at the ports. Nothing will change if we don't start now. Toughen up
the inspection process..the laws are there..enforce them.. If it costs
the producer and the fat cat Canadian distributors money this kind of
nonsense will stop. Until then it will be dirty business as usual. Thank
goodness that the chinese have the biggest zipper plant in the
world{Canada doesn't have one] because they are being caught with their
pants down.

Alain
It is really pathetic by saying "stopping buying stuff from China" or
only blame chinese supplier. Mattel has the main responsiblity to
control their QC issues. The toys have lead paint, that obviously shows
Mattel didnt have any strick Quality control process...

"Stop buysing chinese products" -- This is really most ridiculous thing
that i have ever heard.

Further more, every country every goods they could have some Quality
issues. This could happend to " Made in Japan" or "Made in USA", or
"Made in Canada" Stop blaming China so easily.

:)

Tom W
Your article makes a couple of errors. First, there is no labour
shortage in China. In fact there is an unbelievable labour surplus in
the hundreds of millions of people, as the Chinese government continues
to force peasant farmers off of their tiny rice patty farms into the
cities, under a massive urbanization program. The Chinese government
plans to move at least 300 million peasants into the cities to work in
factories over the next 10 years.
Second, due to the labour surplus in China and a host of other factors,
wages are not increasing. Most Chinese factory workers earn under $1 an
hour