What about the other stuff?
We’ve all heard about the recall of tainted and toxic toys made in China. I want to ask some questions about this problem. Is anyone checking things like pet toys that are made in China? How about things made in China that are used by adults?
I’m talking about things that might be found in our kitchens, bathrooms or anywhere in our homes. For example, are we eating from plastic utensils or plates made over there? What’s in those products and are they safe?
I’m talking about things that might be found in our kitchens, bathrooms or anywhere in our homes. For example, are we eating from plastic utensils or plates made over there? What’s in those products and are they safe?
posted by pissed off patricia at 2:07 AM
27 Comments:
PoP- I had thought about the pet toys, but not about the other objects.
You know, with the endless focus on huge profit from cheap labor and less than good materials, nothing would surprise me now.
It is very scary and it angers me completely.
I believe all these years all the government want you to know is it's cheaper than a product here, you want to save money, look what we've done, don't worry about it, and so you're being poisoned. We have health care when you need it you can't afford, or something like that.
What a tangled web we've woven, eh? ; (
Wish I could stop being a cynic.
Nope! I look for the "Made in China" label now, and won't buy products from China.
It makes shopping very difficult. Everything is made in China lately, and much food comes from there also.
I suggest you start reading labels.
Since the government is not enforcing the labeling laws that are already on the books when it comes to food and other products it is almost impossible to tell where everything is coming from. Look at your toothpaste tube in the morning and you will see that is says distributed by P&G or Colgate not made by. Same goes for shampoo and all kinds of other things. I have become a rabid label reader and I am amazed at how much stuff is "Ditributed by" and not "Made By". If you take vitamins then they are almost surely made in China and unless you drink organic apple juice then there is 50/50 chance it comes from China as well. Only 5% of the clothes for sale in the U.S. are made here. It goes on and on.
I feel a sudden need for the good-ol'-days, when all we worried about were the monsters under the bed.
back in the 60's didnt japan (which was where all the cheap stuff came from) start labeling their merchandise "Made in Usa" -- a town in japan?
the chinese learn very fast
fallenmonk is right - reading labels isn't enough since almost everything we buy has something in it that comes from China. But, since corporations can't afford to pay high wages and still sell goods at prices we are willing to pay, everything gets outsourced. The only solution is going to be to stop buying so much crap. I'm sure if we went through our homes right now, we could easily live without 80% of the stuff we have. Do we need 5 TVs? 12 pairs of jeans? 3 or 4 sets of dishes? A phone in every room? The lists are endless. Consumerville is a dangerous place to live.
In the end Corporate America will make sure products flow at ease from China and elsewhere, U.S jobs will continue to fade away, tainted products will become the norm, as the U.S government remain beholden to Communist China.
And as always the American people will continue to suffer the consequences.
I haven't set foot in a Walmart in at least 6 years. I refuse to buy into that kind of abuse.
I read somewhere lately that "China has captured"(my ems) somewhere between 80 and 90% of the world's manufacturing capacity. With trade being unbalanced to that extent, something will have to give. The best thing we can all do is to hunt down local businesses and do your shopping there. Especially now at the holidays.
Who needs to give the kids on their list Cheap, breakable, flashy junk from overseas that's probably coated or filled with poison? I think locally made wooden toys should be all the rage for Christmas this year.
China's plan for global domination is to create poisonous products and export them to every available market throughout the world. It sounds like the plot of some dystopian sci-fi novel, but it's reality.
Really good point, and I think we should watch it when it comes to pets and adults and stuff from China. I think it's time we started making our own products again, and getting hold of quality control.
i think the 1st thing we must do is demand that our government strengthen it's inspections and truly mean it, no "heck of a job brownie" crap.
2nd. we need to point fingers at OUR companies that relocated there in orser to use cheap labor and lax oversight.
THEY are the unpatriotic entities that don't give at rat's tush about the health of our country.
our government is also to blame for selling our debt to countries like china.
unless something is truthfully marked "made entirely in america"
then believe me pieces and bits were made elsewhere.
it's a global ecomomy and we are responsible for it.
we have to decide how to survive in it.
it's obvious from the last 7 years or so, our government doesn't care.
litbrit
has an excellent series on the problems we're facing with chinese and other unsafe imports. she digs deep.
We do try to avoid products that are made in China. I did buy a set of sheets the other day-- they were made in Pakistan. And, a set of towels that were made in India. Roger likes chopped ginger, but every jar we look at these days comes from China. We feel uncomfortable about buying it. Our toothpaste is Tom's of Maine. We think it's actually made in Kennebunkport, Maine. I would like to see labels tell the whole truth. Not very likely.
It's so freakin' hard to find things that are made here in the US, but we search and search, and then do without if we can't find anything. It's almost impossible to buy US clothing unless you're paying $250 for a pair of jeans (and let's face it; they were probably sewn by illegal immigrants being paid meager cash under the table). So we do our best, but it's hard. We definitely avoid China stuff, though, no matter what. But try to find something plastic that wasn't made in China!
Even if the food product isn't made in China, where did the wheat gluten in it, come from? Does Campbell's Chicken Soup, canned in Paris Texas, contain wheat gluten from China?
I don't know, and it makes me nervous that I don't. I want to know where my food comes from and what is in it. I want to know if it is made from GMO wheat and corn. But it is illegal in the US for food to be labeled in such a way.
Well at least the beans, artichokes, asparagus, tomatoes, peppers and wheat out of my little backyard garden is mostly safe to eat.
It's Mid-November and here in North Central Texas, I still have big beefsteak tomatoes ripening!
Of course not PoP. That would constitute interference with "free" trade, and we can't have that, can we?
There was a documentary on CBC about products from China the other night, and specifically about the unsanitary conditions in which they grow their food. I bought some frozen vegetables the other day, and when I opened the bag, it said in large print "Product of China". I threw them out. Why do we have to buy food from China? No more frozen veggies for me. It will be fresh from local farmers, or nothing.
Most of the world's vitamin supplements come from China as well. This is an interesting link: Vitamin C. Somehow, I just don't trust them to be safe.
Good question. I wonder if standards are different and some things get checked more than others. I mention that because my sister has several decorative bowls that state right on the bottom, "Made in China. Paint contains lead, not safe for human consumption." The bowls are not old either, maybe 3-4 years or so.
Maybe the government just assumed kids toys are safe because they don't look like eating utensils. That's still no excuse though. The Bush administration just doesn't want to spend the money to test things coming into this country.
Once we all go crazy from massive lead consumption or die from poisonous food, we won't care anymore.
It's too prevalent...I think the Chinese may be out to get us. And what better way than insidiously bombard us through their various products that our own government allows into this country. They probably figure that by the time we've figured it out...we'll have generations contaminated beyond repair and our genetics be substantially weakened.
Hey, folks, you're enjoying the fruits of American capitalism. 'Buy it cheap overseas and flog it off at home for big bucks' is the capitalist motto. Even jobs are being exported overseas now. Don't blame the Chinese. They are being exploited too!
'Come in, sucker.'
first they target our pets, then our children. i think they may have been targeting the gen pop all along. i didn't think to look at the chewies my dogs love....i will now.
F 'em. I won't buy from them knowlingly anymore.
Can anyone tell me where to buy gum that doesn't have aspartame in it!? I look and look at the labels, my daughter gets an immediate headache when she consumes any aspartame. Most AMericans don't know that asparteme coverts to formaldehyde when consumed- we pickle body parts in that stuff and does it ever smell! So what does it do to the body!?
We are most concerned about the lead in Children because it causes lead poisoning which leads to Mental Retardation, and children mouth things more than adults. Don't forget the lead in cigarettes, also I have read literature about the lead in things in Mexico-just astounding- they say you are what you eat-so lets watch what we eat, drink and consume in any way!
I have been wondering the same thing, and wondering why they have not been explaining WHAT is in the warning- what should people be looking for and what should they do....and the Government has basically said little....
Hmm, or is it something more sinister... like small pox laden blankets handed to the Indians with a smile....
I think Fallenmonk and UrbanPedestrian made excellent comments.
Our government does not want us to know where our stuff comes from, because they don't want us to get scared about it and buy less of it. It could cost our economy too dearly! Heh...
I think if people cared enough about things like lead in products, they would be paying more attention to what they buy and to its sources. I know I sure will be!
The recent news hype about lead-tainted Chinese toys must just be giving the administration fits... and the more the stories about tainted toys are released, the more the American people will begin to rightly ask things like "So, is all the other stuff we get from China tainted somehow too?"
I would LOVE to see a large-scale backlash against Chinese-made products. The reason I feel this way is that I think all of that stuff, even if much of it is crap, should be manufactured HERE, in our own factories, with our own quality control, by workers who get paid a living wage, with benefits. And if the crap ends up costing too much because our American makers have to pay their workers too much? GOOD. Maybe less of the crap will be sold, and subsequently less of it will be manufactured. That's less junk in our landfills or loose in the environment once it breaks or falls apart and then gets discarded.
Sure, it WOULD cause some fits for our economy. Manufacturers of cheap plastic crap would have to think about the public welfare and the safety of their goods before they thought of the almighty dollar, which is apparently all they think about in the system's present configuration.
It's like our economy is some kind of giant bubble ready to burst. What will pop it? A dollar that declines so far it becomes worthless? The size of our national debt from all our country's deficit spending? I think that what seems like 95% of our stuff being made overseas is not only irritating, but that it's a symptom of something greater, like, we have lost our way when our makers don't put America first.
Why do they hate America?
In answer to the gum without aspartame question, I've found only the Big Red cinnamon doesn't have it (for sugarless or WITH sugar). Why do we have to have aspartame in even our "sugary" gum? Sometimes we have 3 or 4 sweeteners in one product. And on that line of thought, high fructose corn syrup is so addictive! Oh well, I could go on and on. As for Lead, why wouldn't China want us and our kids to be retarded? A nice advantage for them....I say - watch for more! It's bound to come.
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