Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Jarrod Moore

We've all seen the words "Made in China," but during the last decade, they have been hard to avoid. As China continues to ramp up exports every single year, its responsibilities should rise accordingly.

Mattel and Toys "R" Us have both recalled massive amounts of toys manufactured in China over the last few weeks, mostly due to unsafe levels of lead in paint used on the toys or in ink on the packaging. The latest recall occurred last Tuesday, and included about 800,000 Mattel toys, including Barbie products and Disney's "Cars" line of toys. Mattel CEO Robert Eckert took the helm of the company in 2000, and among other cost-cutting measures, closed the company's Kentucky factory (Mattel's last in the U.S.), and outsourced all production, mostly to China and Mexico.

China exports billions of toys every year-the recent recalls barely account for a very small fraction of exported Chinese toys. Remember though, that toys aren't the only things that recent Chinese manufacturing magic has touched.

Poisoned dog food and fraudulently labeled toothpaste made headlines recently, but most harmful products were removed from stores before there was much damage. Pet food companies scrambled to assure consumers that efforts would be made to ensure that all future bags of hazel nuggets and cans of brown paste would be healthy for the family pet, and won't kill them.

This time, though, the children are at stake, and the uproar is much louder. Several ideas are being passed around Washington, including the implementation of third-party testing laboratories inside China for planned imports to the U.S., but change will not come easily or inexpensively.

One problem with this idea is that it requires complicity of the Chinese government and toy manufacturers with American-dictated policy. Also, no one seems to know where funding for these third-party testers would come from or who would control them.

Whatever the details of any new plans for imported goods from China, one thing is sure: the price of toys and other products will go up along with the added safety measures. Corporations are eating the cost of extra inspection for this holiday season simply to save face and prevent further damage to their reputations, but next year's contracts will have the cost of escalated inspections built in.

Continued...

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