China made toys, source of brain damage.

[Horsepower]

For Chinese children lead can be inescapable


By Chris Buckley

BEIJING, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Parents around the world may have been shocked this week when 1.5 million Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys were recalled because of excessive lead content, but for mums and dads in China lead poisoning is just a fact of life.

Mattel Inc.'s (MAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) worldwide recall of dozens of products is the latest in a deluge of safety scares that have rattled international consumer confidence in Chinese-made goods.

High levels of lead from toys, water pipes and industry can cause behavioural problems and slow learning among children.

But if Beijing was worried about Chinese children being affected, that was not reflected in state-run media on Friday, which were silent about Mattel's recall.

And it was business as usual in the toy section of Beijing's Tianyi department store.

"I do not worry so much, if the toy looks fun for my child, it is okay. My child is already so big, he is not going to put the toy in his mouth," said a Mrs. Zhang, who was buying toys for her four-year-old son.

Indeed, for many parents, lead competes with many other toxins in the heavily polluted country as a source of anxiety.

"There are just too many things to worry about," said Li Huijing, mother of a five-year-old girl. "There are some things I just try not to think about. I try to pay more for good toys."

HOUSE PAINT, OLD PIPES

China has responded to rising consumer expectations by setting stricter standards for lead in toys, most recently introducing new labelling rules. But imposing those standards on the country's vast and fragmented toy sector is difficult.

China makes 75 percent of the world's toys, according to the national chamber of light industry, and many of the thousands of producers are small and resistant to regulation.

They make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that -- if regular news reports are a guide -- often have a lead content well above government-set limits.

A 2005 report in a Beijing newspaper cited estimates that 60 percent of Chinese-made toys used paint with lead above internationally accepted limits.

The China Toy Association would not answer questions about the problem.

"The worry isn't big toy makers that also export their products. The worry is small factories," said Feng Guoqiang, a childhood development specialist at Peking University's Health Science Centre.

"It's a matter of money and choice. Some parents can't afford better, so they buy the cheapest on the stall."

Feng said that toys are not the biggest threat. China has phased out leaded petrol, but house paint, old pipes and buildings and belching factories are still big sources of lead.

A study of Chinese cities in 2004 found that 10.5 percent of children had lead levels in their blood of at least 100 microgrammes per litre -- a level considered unhealthy by the World Health Organisation.

"For us, the problem is the factories. What they make is less important," said Feng.

Mattel's Fisher-Price recalling 1.5 mln toys


By Nicole Maestri
NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Mattel Inc.'s (MAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Fisher-Price unit is recalling about 1.5 million Chinese-made toys around the world, nearly a million of them in the United States, because their paint may contain too much lead.


The recall is the latest in a string of incidents that have fueled U.S.-China tensions over the safety of Chinese products.


The recalled toys, which include popular preschool characters like Elmo, Big Bird, and Dora, were made by a contract manufacturer in China using a non-approved paint pigment containing lead, Mattel said on Wednesday.
The company said it is recalling roughly 967,000 plastic toys from the U.S. market and about 533,000 from international markets, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico.


"We operate on a global basis," said Jim Walter, senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance at Mattel, adding that the recall could affect all its markets around the world.


In the United States, the products were sold nationwide at retail stores between May and August, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. They sold for $5 to $40.


Mattel said U.S. consumers should contact Fisher-Price to arrange a product return and to receive a voucher for a replacement toy.
Mattel, which said it was made aware of the problem in early July, said it is working with retailers to identify the affected products and have them removed from shelves. It also said it is intercepting incoming shipments to stop them from being sold.


Of the nearly one million products recalled from the U.S. market, Mattel said about 30 percent had reached retail shelves.
The toy company declined to identify the manufacturer, but Walter said Mattel had worked with the contract manufacturer in China for roughly 15 years.


In China, Mattel offices referred inquiries back to headquarters and declined to answer any questions or even confirm if the toys were produced by their particular plants.


Walter said the toy maker has launched an investigation to find out how the paint made its way onto the toys.
"The disappointment here was we had a single contract manufacturer that we had a long-standing relationship with who did not do what is required by Mattel," Walter said.


While Mattel has stopped producing and shipping toys from that manufacturer, Mattel said it is waiting for the outcome of its investigation to decide whether it will continue to do business with the contractor.
Lead paint has been linked to health problems in children, including learning disabilities and permanent brain damage, so the recall is likely to increase worries over the safety of Chinese products.


President George W. Bush has ordered a high-level review of U.S. rules intended to keep out harmful imports following a series of scares involving imported Chinese seafood, wheat gluten, toothpaste and pet food. The incidents have drawn attention to the low rate of inspections of food and other goods and prompted calls in Congress for more aggressive surveillance of Chinese goods.


In recent years, about 66 percent of all U.S. product recalls have been of imported goods, with a majority of those products made in China, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.


In late June, concern about the safety of farm-raised catfish, shrimp and other seafood from China prompted the FDA to put a hold on those imports until suppliers prove they are free of harmful residues.


That followed a recall of more than 1 million Chinese-manufactured toy trains on June 13 because some may have contained lead paint.
Earlier this year, melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizers, surfaced in pet food from China, killing animals and prompting wide recalls.
A poisonous chemical often found in solvents and antifreeze was recently detected in some Chinese-made toothpaste.





((Editing by Gary Hill; Reuters Messaging: nicole.maestri.reuters.com*reuters.net; (646) 223-6173)) Keywords: MATTEL FISHERPRICE/
(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

Source: Reuters

[Horsepower]

Lead Paint Prompts Mattel Toy Recall

August 2, 2007 · Mattel, maker of Fisher-Price toys, will recall almost 1 million plastic preschool toys made in China because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead. The recall involves such popular characters as Elmo and Big Bird. In June, another toymaker recalled 1.5 million wooden Thomas and Friends toys, also made in China. They were also found to be coated with toxic lead paint.






Source; NPR.ORG

[Horsepower]

I think we should also refrain eating foods imported from China.

[flex]

Bigla ko lng naisep ito....

If anyone has passed by Metro Manila, there has been lots of ongoing installations of plastic water pipes by Maynilad to replace old water pipes. I just wondered where they sourced these pipes? Baka galing din sa China and now our water pipes might be those containing high traces of lead or any harmful materials?

Is this a possibility? since if these pipes came from China, normally they would be cheaper than those from other countries or perhaps those produced locally....so bka nalalason na tayo d lng natin alam....

[torque2006]

Bigla ko lng naisep ito....

If anyone has passed by Metro Manila, there has been lots of ongoing installations of plastic water pipes by Maynilad to replace old water pipes. I just wondered where they sourced these pipes? Baka galing din sa China and now our water pipes might be those containing high traces of lead or any harmful materials?

Is this a possibility? since if these pipes came from China, normally they would be cheaper than those from other countries or perhaps those produced locally....so bka nalalason na tayo d lng natin alam....

hopefully hinde naman. maynilad was owned by the lopezes (and passed on to dmci), while manila water is owned by the ayalas.

they've got more at stake than a few peso savings.

[uls]

There's a trade war going on between the US and China.

This lead paint thing is just a small part of it.

The US wants China to allow it's currency to float to reflect true value.

The Chinese wont.

Laki ng trade imbalance between US and China.

If u can make US consumers buy less China products, the trade imbalance can be corrected.

How? Scare the US consumers. China products = UNSAFE.

[AnuVaYan]

Bigla ko lng naisep ito....

If anyone has passed by Metro Manila, there has been lots of ongoing installations of plastic water pipes by Maynilad to replace old water pipes. I just wondered where they sourced these pipes? Baka galing din sa China and now our water pipes might be those containing high traces of lead or any harmful materials?

Is this a possibility? since if these pipes came from China, normally they would be cheaper than those from other countries or perhaps those produced locally....so bka nalalason na tayo d lng natin alam....

Correct me if I'm wrong, pero ang pagkakaalam ko, mas lead free yung mga pvc pipes. Ang nakakatakot ay yung mga lumang lumang pipes na hindi pa napapalitan, kasi unang una, lead pipes itong mga ito, tapos idagdag mo pa yung kalawang na naipon na.

Tama ba?