China Blames U.S. Protectionism For Its Unsafe Products
China says the problems with the Mattel toys is the fault of Mattel and U.S. protectionism.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Mattel has only itself to blame for a huge toy recall that has stoked global alarm about Chinese-made goods, state media said on Thursday, charging that a slew of foreign safety scares had exposed a protectionist agenda.
Mattel Inc, the world’s largest toymaker, recalled over 18 million Chinese-made toys this month because of risks from small magnets that can injure children if swallowed, just two weeks after it recalled 1.5 million toys due to fears over lead paint.
Coming in the wake of warnings over Chinese-made toothpaste, pet food, tires, eels and seafood, and lethal chemicals that had found their way into medicine, the toy recall has magnified calls in Washington for much tougher scrutiny of such imports.
The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official paper, continued Beijing’s recent counter-offensive, putting the spotlight on multinationals that have used China as a production base.
“If it comes down to blame, then it all lies with the U.S. side,” the paper said of the Mattel magnet recall, noting that the problem was a design defect. “The Chinese manufacturer only produced according to those specifications.”
A China-based company that let lead in the toy paint would be punished, but even here Mattel must share blame, the paper said, noting that the U.S. firm had worked with it for over a decade.
The paper said foreign media reports about unsafe Chinese food and products were exaggerated and ignored the good record of nearly all the country’s exporters.
“People have reason to fear that some government officials and media in the United States hope to use doubts about the overall quality of Chinese goods to press for narrow trade protection.”
In a way they’re right about it being the fault of the companies because if they had made sure of quality control or used a company in our country the money they saved on labor wouldn’t have been lost in recalls, so I have no pity for Mattel.
I have said before and I’ll say it again, I will not buy anything that has a label that indicates any part of it was made in China.
I may have to pay four times as much for an American made item or may have to go without the product, but at least they won’t get a chance to poison me or my loved ones again.
Written by ~J~
Sue Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pmVisit Sue
As I said the other evening I believe Mattel should take a good look at those in upper level management. These individuals while trying to blame the mistakes on China are getting a free ride and still collecting huge salaries.
I hope their holiday sales this year are in the toilet and I do not say that lightly as it reflects on the economy as a whole, but they do not deserve one American dollar for the harm they may have caused to our children.
It seems to be such the norm today to just pass the buck.
Just fix the problem but first take responsibility for the errors made. China is also culpable but Mattel in my mind bears the brunt of this.