Mattel recalls 1m toys... go China go
 

If you have kids, watch out:

Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, is recalling nearly one million toys in the United States today because the products’ surfaces are covered in lead paint.


Complete List of Recalled Products (cpsc.gov)


According to Mattel, all the toys were made by a contract manufacturer in China.
The recall, the second biggest this year involving toys, covers 83 different products, manufactured between April 19 and July 6. Many of them feature “Sesame Street” and Nickelodeon characters — including the Elmo Tub Sub, the Dora the Explorer Backpack, and the Giggle Gabber, a toy shaped like Elmo or Cookie Monster that toddlers shake to hear giggles and funny noises.
Mattel says it prevented more than two-thirds of the 967,000 affected toys from reaching consumers by contacting retailers, like Wal-Mart, Target and Toys ‘R’ Us, late last week. But more than 300,000 of the tainted toys have been purchased by consumers in the United States.
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Full story:


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/bu...prod=permalink

I wish the US would shape up and quit it with the shi_ty imports. I for one would be willing to spend an extra 3.50 on a plastic toy to know it wasn't built in a LEAD factory....

It's the WalmartNationSyndrome...Ma&Pa 6 pack, with fat, snotty kids
in tow, chasing those "bargains". The bar has been moved so low it looks
like a Limbo contest.

I told my wife the other day I would 'love' to find a store that had a made in America section....

i'm sorry but :rofl:

http://www.madeinusa.org/nav.cgi?data/toys&

Go to madeinusa.org to find products made here in America.

Too bad for slick marketing...It will be hard to tell my new son when he gets to age that toys made in China won't be part of his toybox. I'll do my best to stick by my guns and I don't care if it costs me a small fortune.

I personally don't mind paying more for stuff NOT made in China. The argument goes that tougher regulations will hit American wallets. But what good is saving $2 now, when it causes health problems later and hits the wallet with doctor, hospital, and medicine bills?

For one, my parents stopped buying the seafood from the local Korean grocery store. Korean supermarkets here are fabulously low-priced, but a lot of their seafood comes from China. They swapped the signs to read "caught in US" but we don't buy that. :rolleyes:

lets not over react, we almost use "made in china" products everyday. this is just one more thing "made in china", unfortunately its the toy for kids. errors in manufacturing process could happen in any product including those "made in usa" or "made in italy" or "made in you name it". in my opinion, our economy somehow depends on chinese imports (cheap labors, cheap material...). but this is an unfortunate situation where the products are intended for kids. well, i am typing this on "made in china" keyboard and looking at "made in china" LCD monitor while sitting on "made in china" swivel chair. as i say, its unfortunate.

"our economy somehow depends on chinese imports"

At what cost to American jobs? Sure...Items made in China are cost less but in reality they are cheap. Tools for instance made in China sometimes break the same day you buy them while I still have tools my Grandfather handed down he used his entire lifetime. I'm betting 95% of them I will hand down to my son.

Bottom line is items made in China may cost less in the short run. Reality is they cost us a bundle in recalls, quality and American jobs lost over seas.

well get what you pay for, if you spend $2 to get 8 chinese 60W light bulbs (dollars store) each one is about 300 hrs, thats 2,400 hrs. or $2 dollars on domestic bulbs which can burn for around 1,000 hrs. thats why below average household (or poor) can only afford these products. and you can't blame them for boosting chinese imports. 2nd, if all of those products that made in china were to be manufactured here in the states, i dont think we have enough money to pay for labor, its 10 times or even more, let alone, the cost to build factories here in the state. you are right about "quality" jobs lost over seas, but for other cheap products, they just can't afford being made here. i dont find "made in china" products are the problems. just pay what you think you can afford and leave those products for lower income families, as i think thats all they can afford. my 2 cents.