The latest news in the China Saga has parents of kids once again scrambling as Mattel has issued a toy recall only weeks after Fisher-Price had to do the same because of the use of deadly lead paint. Around 9 million of the Chinese made toys ranging from Barbie to Batman to Polly Pockets to die cast cars are all posing a potential danger to kids because of lead paint.
America needs to cut off trade with China immediately. This has been a turbulent year as we have witnessed toothpaste from China being recalled because antifreeze was used as an ingredient. We have rushed countless pets to the vet and witnessed many deaths because of tainted dog food. Then in a span of a month, we have seen two separate recalls of millions of toys for kids ranging from infant on up because of potential deadly risks.
Let me explain why trade with China is not good for us as consumers. China has no government oversight for their factories or companies. They have spent years stealing ideas, patents and trademarks from countries all over the world with their only concern being for the bottom line. As far as consequences, those in the industries face little if any consequences for releasing bad products.
I recently read an article in the September Popular Science Magazine that left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was about cloners in China. Engineers are hired to clone products and sometimes even release their products before ours in order to be thought of as the original. Some say that is their prerogative-it is a free market. But let's looks at the lengths that these companies go to while the Chinese government just looks on with praise or, at the very least, turns the other cheek.
When we talk about clones in the Chinese sense, we are not talking about the stuff we buy on the street in New York or the obvious knock-offs found at outlet stores across America. We are talking about high-tech gadgets, products, cars, etc. that are so much like the original that sometimes the ripped off manufacturers service the products under warranties not realizing they are actually clones.
If one were to drive in China it would become the extent of this problem would quickly become obvious. Looking to the right or left you would see really familiar cars-cars that look identical to our American cars.
“If you didn’t have nametags on the cars, you couldn’t tell them apart," Congressman James Sesenbrennar of Wisconsin said after a trip to China in 2004 (quoted form Popular Science-Clone Home). “It’s such a good knockoff that you can pull the door off the Spark and it fits on the QQ (Chinese car), so close that the seals on the doors match right up."
The Chinese even goes as far as building exact replicas of corporate buildings and factories. Companies have become selective about with whom they outsource, often only outsourcing parts to try and deter the cloning. But other times companies are not even aware they are being cloned.
One American company that builds dashboard gauges for boats and military humvees discovered an entire plant in China dedicated to cloning its products, even though it had never done any manufacturing outside of Connecticut.
Although they worked poorly, they had the American company's name and address and the catalog part number and the initials of a calibrator and final testers. The company found out when complaints were made.
There are no boundaries. I will admit that copycatting does go on in America, but we do have patents and trademarks that allow businesses to fight-China can have two identical manufacturing companies side by side with stolen ideas from America and not see that as any kind of issue.
Recently Samsung tried to trace back how their products were being cloned. They were so impressed by the cloners that they offered them a job. The engineers turned down the job because they could make more cloning and selling products cheaper.
So why do I bring this up? The only time the Chinese government steps in to regulate anything in the business forum is when it brings them embarrassment. That was the case in May when the former head of China’s FDA was executed after it was found that he took $850,000 in bribes to secure the approval of a counterfeit antibiotic that ultimately killed 10 people.
To me, that is the obvious reason that the factory owner responsible for painting toys with lead paint committed suicide. He had caused embarrassment to the Chinese government. At this point it is too late-there should be regulation.
America needs to stop trade with China until they get some sort of qualified government oversight. I can maybe turn the other cheek on the cloning because it is a free market, but it seems to me we are dealing with a country that has little to no ethics. It may be a culture thing, but why endanger the American people for shabby products. Besides, most times my kids are happy with the boxes the toys came in-do we really need dangerous toys? Can we not make them in America?
On a side note, earlier in the year, we bought a Dora set. As we spent hours trying to get into the super sealed box, I will spare you the details of the dead insect we found inside. Had to come from the factory. It is a good thing they were sealed because if my two-year-old would have opened that and been traumatized, I think I would have flown to China myself to give them a piece of my mind.
Trade needs to stop! We are putting our kids at risk. It is hard enough to go through the list and the toys we have just to see if they are in danger. For the complete list of the newest recalled toys, visit www.mattel.com. I would love to hear your views as well on this.
