BS: Lead in Toys from China

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 09:33 PM

There was an item on the radio this morning (BBC Radio 4) about a children's entertainer who's got into trouble for making animals out of balloons - some child was allergic to the balloon....

kitty

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 08:56 PM

"if it's possible for the magnets to pull toward one another through a pinch in the intestinal wall"

Many of these modern tiny magnets are constructed of materials that allow such a high degree of 'pull'.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: SharonA
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 06:46 PM

Autolycus wonders what a "blockage" is: they're talking about intestinal blockages, where the intestine is obstructed and the digesting food is prevented (blocked) from moving along through the plumbing normally. The term can apply to a partial or complete cork-up. The parts of the digestive system that lead up to the blockage continue to operate normally until the intestine fills with food, fluid, gas and secretions. The intestine enlarges, the lining swells and becomes inflamed. Untreated, it can rupture and all the stuff inside leaks into the abdominal cavity, where it causes peritonitis and infection. If the obstruction crimps up the intestinal wall and cuts off blood flow, gangrene can set in. Eventually a person can die from the results of a blockage. (Info came from this site)

How can all this happen from a teensy little Polly Pocket magnet, you may ask? Apparently the problem occurs when a child has swallowed more than one magnet, and they attract one another and clump up. According to this article from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, three children were reported to have had required surgery because of having swallowed multiple magnets which caused perforations in their intestines.

I wonder if it's possible for the magnets to pull toward one another through a pinch in the intestinal wall, as larger magnets would do through a folded piece of paper?

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Mickey191
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 02:50 PM

I'm wondering why the lead painted toys are not inspected by our government watchdogs from the getgo? Why is (was) tainted food & toothpaste not caught by the FDA pronto? Then banned until China cleaned up their act. Or is the resultant situation just another product of our gov't. cutting corners on really important issues?

Bought a box of bandaids the other day--made in Egypt. That's a new one on me. The product was fine-darn hard to get into the bandaid itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 02:39 PM

recently - I read a story about a factory in China - where workers who
manufacture various stone carved trinkets have been slowly dying of silicosis because of the dust. For years, no masks were provided, and only lately they started providing the cheap paper filter masks - which are not very effective.. WOrkers get charged for the masks too.

One worker who was dying of silicosis actually sued and won against the company - however the factory moved somewhere else and changed the name slightly and nothing much happened.

Its funny how much the US makes such a big issue of China regarding intellectual property, but when it comes to safety of workers and safe products - as well as environmental rules, all the elites in the IMF and World Bank insist that developing countries be given a chance to develop under less stringent rules..

I wonder if the issue is as big in Europe, I know someone who moved to Canada recently from Germany and said you didnt really see too many
products Made in China and if you did they were priced about the same as German made.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: autolycus
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 02:24 PM

The toys also have magnets that are easy to swallow. The spokeslady said they could cause "bluckages", whatever a "bluckage "   is.





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Barry Finn
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 01:34 PM

Mary, you can pick 'em in my back yard. Of course I'm in NH. Grow your own is one way to beat them.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 01:24 PM

The reason given by Sobey's(Canada) for not selling local produce is that American suppliers insist on year round contracts,thereby excluding local farmers. I go to the local farm market but I think we ought to let the big stores know that local communities want to buy local produce.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 10:05 AM

Can't get Maine blueberries in Maine supermarkets. Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 09:33 AM

I try to but locally produced things, but it is very hard to do as we don't manufacture much anymore. Our local supermarket is selling Strawberries from California in the US while it is the height of strawberry season here at home. The same happens in late August with local farm produce, especially tomatoes. This really ticks me off and I do complain at the shop..but to no avail..we all need to badgers supermarkets into selling local stuff. As for things made in China, I avoid them by staying out of Walmart and other big box stores.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Bee
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 07:35 AM

Heard on the news the owner of the factory in China that produced many of the toys has been found hanged (suicide) in his factory.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:12 AM

Smarties changed the red dye in their candy because of an alert about the dye that they were using possibly being related to hyperactivity in kids. Several other products did the same.
This was voluntary-
The dye has not been banned from foods in the U. S.
Further tests have shown no reliable link between the dye and AT hyperactivity.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 11:38 PM

Ah, but what are 'safe standards'? Every country has a different set of standards. What is considered safe in the UK is not acceptable in other countries - the case of the red food dye used in Smarties (chocolate beans coated with coloured sugar glaze) was one, perfectly safe and edible in the UK, not allowed in the US.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:57 PM

A report aired here stated that 80% of toys sold in the USA and Canada are from China.
China has a ways to go before all their goods are up to safe standards, but the fact remains that very few goods, proportionally, fail to meet USA standards. CNN and other news media in the States blow up the situation out of all proportion.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: GUEST,tarnishedhalo
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:43 PM

The solution is really very easy. If it's foreign made and you can possibly do without it simply don't buy it. The strongest message anyone can ever send is the one that hits hard in the pocket.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 10:45 PM

You know, contrary to what some people believe, the US does still manufacture some things. In Oregon for instance, a lot of the big factories have closed but there are many small factories. My sister in law has worked for years in a shop that makes the stoplight harnesses that are used all over the US. Oddly enough, most of the owners (there have been a series of them) have been foreign born.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Gurney
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 10:40 PM

Must have been old stock, Sinsull.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: gnu
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:57 PM

So... it was "local".

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:35 PM

I received a gift from Jacqui and family in a shiny shopping bag imprinted with the UK flag. It proudly proclaims Buy Bitish Goods. Guess where the bag was manufactured?
No, not China. The USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:24 PM

Who out there still has a collection of toy lead soldiers? Good old ones are getting very expensive.

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: gnu
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 03:21 PM

You got that right, Ebbie! And, it's been going on for years and years. I don't buy anything from afar that I can't get "local" (Canada and USA) unless the cost is prohibitive. And, I don't buy any kind of grub from "afar".

Subject: RE: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:57 PM

Last night Jay Leno reported that in a pile of lead in China, they found some toys...

You know, if somebody in the USA wasn't making HUGE profits from the imports - hang the occasional contaminant - we wouldn't be buying these things. To me, it seems totally cynical. A country that is so completely unready to join national markets with proper inspections and quality control - hey, people over there are dying from their own products - should not even be considered for import.

Money is powerful.

Subject: BS: Lead in Toys from China
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 01:42 PM

Heads up from Moms Rising.
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/momsrising/signUp.jsp?key=2362&t=petition.dwt

Story as covered by the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/06toys.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Mattel, Reebock, vending machine toys.