The Evil China Rant

I was lazy yesterday. I read just about all of our big city paper, watched various tv - news and "other" (categorized as bad, but entertaining) etc...and I just have to address the "Bad, Bad China" thing that's going on, especially since they toy recall.

Yes, it's bad that China is shipping toys that have lead in them. It should not be happening, of course. But, c'mon folks, is China doing this to torture small American children? No. Is this a conspiracy for China to push itself ahead in the world? No. The simple (and sad) fact is that China has many many environmental contaminents, and consumer safety issues. Period. Domestic and export goods. We've all seen the stories about lead being in so much stuff in China. We see stories about one food plant manager putting rat poison in another food plant's goods. They talk about pesticides and chemicals of all kinds being in food. The substance that killed so many of our pups and cats in this country is in a lot of stuff it shouldn't be in over there. And it is wrong in each and every instance. The air pollution that is in so many of the major cities in China...It's not safe for humans and all animals - not just American humans and pets!

It's really easy for our lazy media and simplistic minds to blame it on China. And I am not an apologist AP for China. I do not believe that everything that China does has a rosy scent and a gilded edge to it. There's a lot of bad stuff about China. And there is a lot of good stuff too. Just like every country. Consumer safety is China is not one of those good things.

The ones that are not getting the evil eye that should be are our companys here. Or wherever they are - doesn't matter...the ones that went to China, and figured out that they could cut their costs by 26, 38, 45% over where they used to manufacture this stuff! Did no one at the Big Importing Company think, hummmm....how can they make this liscensed rubberized toy character so much stinking cheaper? How can they do this? What is the quality of this toy? I would like to hope so, and it was an "honest mistake of oversight" but my guess is that the answer was moreso at the bottom of the spreadsheet. It's not high technology that is being made cheaper with progress over time - it's a hunk of rubber that has been painted. The fact that you have been able to cut costs that much should tell you something, shouldn't it??? And shouldn't you be testing the products that are sold to you, to make sure they are up to the level that you deem appropriate?

I'm irritated at how many other ways it is fun to bash China, and other countries too (c'mon folks, "freedom fries"- that from our best and brightest in Congress?), but in reality there is usually more than one person/company/entity/causal chain of events at fault. To change the toy/pet food/toothpaste/topic of the day issue, you have to not only "fix" the SOP in the factories in China of stuff being made, but you probably have to start here at home, "fixing" the SOP of the companies that put their bottom line ahead of our safety.

Taking my apple crate and going home now...