You all must be aware that Mattel has recalled millions of Fisher-Price and Pixar toys made in China, contaminated with lead paint. This story has been blogged here by Karma for All, CNN: A little lead won’t kill ya...don’t panic on how CNN trivialized it.
But I have a different concern: Did the system work? How was the lead paint problem discovered? What organization deserves the credit for doing the tests that revealed lead in the paint?
Many of you probably assume that socially responsible Mattel, with its safety checks and independent audits, discovered the problem. Or failing that, that our Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) discovered the problem doing its job testing products in its labs. You would be wrong.
Follow me below the fold to read what I’ve learned.
The quote that got me piqued:
Speaking of the new recall, Nancy Nord, acting Consumer Product Safety Commission chairwoman, said in a statement, "These recalled toys have accessible lead in the paint and parents should not hesitate in taking them away from children." The statement said that the commission had launched an investigation and that "ensuring that Chinese made toys are safe for U.S. consumers is one of my highest priorities and is the subject of vital talks currently in place between C.P.S.C. and the Chinese government."
"...had launched an investigation" implies after they were made aware. No, the CPSC didn’t discover the problem. Nor did Mattel.
Credit for this recall goes to the International Herald Tribune, the international voice of The New York Times, and an unnamed European retailer that apparently did its own testing.
In early July, according to Mattel executives, one of the European retailers that sells Mattel toys discovered the lead on some products. On July 6, Mattel stopped operations at the factory that produced the toys and initiated an investigation.
On July 18, Mattel took a reporter for The New York Times on a tour of a factory in Guanyao, China, and of Mattel's toy safety lab in Shenzhen. At that time, Mattel executives say, it was unclear whether Mattel was facing a widespread lead paint problem, or if the European case was an anomaly.
[July 26th], the same day this newspaper ran an article on the subject of preventing safety violations in Chinese factories that focused on Mattel, the company's executives say they received conclusive data that convinced them to recall the 83 products. Then, the company contacted retailers who stocked the toys.
"This is a vendor plant with whom we've worked for 15 years; this isn't somebody that just started making toys for us," Robert Eckert, the chief executive of Mattel, said in an interview. "They understand our regulations, they understand our program, and something went wrong. That hurts."
This quote is reveals several important facts:
- Even the most scrupulous manufacturer can fail to find problems like this.
- Educating foreign manufacturers is not enough.
- Contracts stipulating safety rules are not enough.
- Even socially conscious manufacturers need oversight to ensure problems are acted upon in a timely manner. How long would it have taken Mattel to do such a massive recall if the problem had not been brought to light by the International Herald Tribune?
And this isn’t an isolated case:
Earlier this summer, RC2, the maker of Thomas trains, recalled 1.5 million trains and accessories because a Chinese supplier had coated them in lead paint. At that time, consumer safety experts and toy industry analysts said that Mattel was unlikely to face such a problem.
And from the August 5th, 2007 Chicago Tribune
QINGDAO, China - Brightly colored children's bracelets and necklaces line the display case of a Chinese manufacturer in this factory town. Adorned with mini school buses, sandals and other charms, the jewelry sits ready to be sold to foreign and domestic buyers. It also contains lead.
While the U.S. government in July issued a recall for similar items, branded as Essentials for Kids, officials at the factory said they knew nothing of it.
And because the CJ Accessories factory sells the jewelry to different companies with different brands, identical lead-tainted products could be on store shelves under other names.
And this from www.star-telegram.com
A study of 5,000 children in Dongguan, a boomtown near Hong Kong, discovered that 22.1 percent had unsafe levels of lead in their blood, according to the newspaper Yangcheng Evening News.
Dongguan is home to hundreds of factories that produce low-cost furniture, toys and other goods for export.
My questions are:
Why was it a European retailer that discovered the lead paint?"
Why wasn’t it an American retailer? We all know how Wal-Mart loves to keep prices down by importing the products it sells. Apparently, Wal-Mart doesn’t feel it has a responsibility to ensure these cheap foreign goods are safe.
And
Why didn’t our CPSC discover the problem? After all, it's their job to keep us safe.
The answer, of course, is that the CPSC has been slowly dismantled by many administrations (what one writer likened to "death by a thousand cuts"), but particularly by the Bush Administration. Rachel Weintraub laid it all out before Congress, just last February:
- The CPSC has had to reduce staff by 16% (79 FTE) since 2000. The 2008 budget will force a further reduction of 19 FTE.
- The CPSC has not had a quorum of three Commissioners since July 06. The Commission has not been able to conduct any business requiring a vote, including voting on rulemakings or civil or criminal penalties, since January.
How effective can the CPSC be with inadequate staff and no enforcement authority?
You can read the full testimony here.
The CPSC, seems to have been reduced to Potemkin village status – a mostly empty shell, existing only to give us false confidence that the products we buy are safe.
This is a direct consequence of Republicans' goal of "reducing big government". As Grover Nordquist said,
"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
For further reading, Markthshark’s Another Federal Agency Bites the Dust discusses the widespread dismantling of our government under Bush.