On 22 Mar 2008 16:35:30 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:41:29 -0600, Don Foreman wrote:
On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:42:00 -0600, Jon Elson
wrote:

Did you hear that there is exactly ONE inspector for ALL toys
for the ENTIRE US at the CSPC (Consumer Products Safety
Commission)? Just ONE overburdened guy who has to check out
EVERY kind of toy sold in the whole US? Totally INCREDIBLE!
No WONDER we can't catch this stuff before it is on the store
shelves.

Most children have at least one parent that is both more capable and
more motivated than the government to supervise them, nurture them and
keep objects and substances of unknown provenance out of their
mouths.

Really? How does that work with infant toys that are DESIGNED to be
mouth toys? You are familiar with the whole development process, right?

Thing is, we have laws about lead and lead paint in toys. The companies
who import them know this. The companies in China and other places know
this. The Chinese manufacturers choose to put lead paint onto products
because it's cheaper, and the importers don't bother to do anything like
test for it. Even if you feel that lead paint on kids toys is no big
deal for some reason, that doesn't chnage the fact that it's an illegal
import. Since we can't realistically do anything to the manufacturer in
communist china who is trying to poison our kids, (Or, if you prefer,
who is willingly violating import laws for the market they're selling
to), the obvious party to fix the problem is the importer. Mattel,
Disney, I'm looking at you here. Your name is on it, you're a USA'n
entity, you're liable for preventing the problem. And when they fail to
prevent the problem by inspecting their suppliers and the product, then
there should be a REAL fine for it. No trivial $50K bull****, make it a
million bucks a shot or something. Use that to fund the CPSC.

Thus far it is still legal to take a daughter or granddaughter fishing
for brightly-colored feisty sunfish, lead sinkers and all. Good
parents don't let the kids chew the sinkers.

We KNOW those are lead. When you by, oh, I don't know, let's say this:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08050.html - to put in
direct contact with food, because that's what it's made for, do you
really think the burdon of testing for lead should be on the end-user?
And no, that's not an isolated example. Again, search for "lead paint"
at http://www.productrecallwatch.com/ and see all the stuff illegally
being sold with an easy to prevent problem. And then note how much of
it is made in China.

You're blaming parents for this? Really?

It'll be awhile before the gummint has enough inspectors to visit
every dock on each of MN's 10,000 lakes to put a stop to the
excitement of little girls catching sunnies off those docks.

This isn't about lead where lead is expected to be, it's about products
which aren't supposed to have it, but do.

When they do come, I hope they are able to instruct on how to lash an
approved pebble to an approved bobbber with good knots using
bio-degradable line, after the worm has been properly tested and
approved for nutritional value in case the kid decides to eat it.

Tell me, Don, do you expect people to use lead sinkers as jewelry? Do
you expect them to be used as teething toys for toddlers, or to put them
on a birthday cake? You're talking about two entirely different things.
Lead where it's appropriate and expected has never been the problem or
the target. Responses such as yours show either ignorance or
intentional distortion of the issue, and serve to do nothing but
distract from the actual problem and solution.
This is all caused by "Millwright Ron" and his blessed union having
bankrupted all North American manufacturers to the point that
commercial enterprise can only find product to sell by importing from
areas where nobody gives a S**T.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada