Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall of defective imported (Chinese likely the
major one) in the future?

Note the story I include covering other recalled imports.

TMT

Recall concerns parents, toy companies By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP
Business Writer


Wendy Schneider-Fisher is nervous about what toys to buy her children.
"I'm less inclined to buy anything from China," said Schneider-Fisher,
of New Albany, Ohio, who was heading into a local Toys "R" Us
Thursday. "And I'm upset our government doesn't do more to stop it."

Schneider-Fisher's comments reflect the quandary many American parents
face after the world's largest toy company, Mattel Inc., recalled
almost 1 million Chinese-made toys because they may contain lead.

As if fears over contaminated toothpaste, poisoned pet food and faulty
tires weren't enough, the latest recall of Chinese-made products has
anxious parents rummaging through toy chests to find tainted Big Birds
and Dora the Explorer toys.

It also has stressed-out toy companies going through their inventory
to see if their products are harmless. And it has China, again,
insisting that its products are safe.

On Thursday, Mattel's Fisher-Price brand announced it is recalling 83
types of toys - including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego
characters - because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.
The recall involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese
vendor and sold in the United States between May and August.

Under current U.S. regulations, children's products found to have more
than 0.06 percent lead are subject to a recall.

For parents, replacing the tainted toys with ones they trust are safe
could pose a problem: 80 percent of all toys are made in China.

"It seems like everything's from China but if I could find a similar
toy that was American made, I would definitely buy it even if it cost
more," said Allen Mayne, of Columbus, Ohio, who was shopping at a
local Toys "R" Us for his 9-year-old daughter.

"I think it would be in everyone's best interests to look for American-
made products, stuff you can feel confident about, stuff that's just
not the cheapest junk that you can get," he said.

With discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. waging price wars, the
pressure has been on toy companies to cut costs by producing cheaper
toys in China. With exceptions like Mattel, which estimates that about
50 percent of its production in China is made in company-owned plants,
many toy companies turn to contract factories, a cheaper alternative.

Thursday's toy recall follows the June recall by RC2 Corp. of 1.5
million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends
Wooden Railway product line because of lead paint. Those toys were
also made in China.

Industry experts are worried there will be more toy recalls to come,
and fear parents will be more skeptical when buying holiday toys, even
avoiding Chinese products altogether.

"Everyone is concerned that this could really undermine the
traditional toy business if consumers think that the toys are unsafe,"
said New York-based toy consultant Chris Byrne.

Mattel, considered by experts as a role model in how to do business in
China, remained in crisis control Thursday.

The company contends the recall was "fast-tracked," allowing it to
quarantine two-thirds of the toys before they even made it to stores.
Still, executives are trying to find out how this situation happened.

"There is an extreme sense of urgency," said David Allmark, general
manager of Fisher-Price.

Jim Walter, senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance for
Mattel, is heading to China to meet with vendors.

China also moved to clear up another blot on its reputation.

"China has always conducted international trade in the spirit of being
responsible to its trade partners and itself," China's Commerce
Minister Bo Xilai said in a statement published Thursday on the
ministry's Web site. "Ninety-nine percent of China's exports are good
and safe."

There is also increasing pressure for government regulation of the
U.S. toy industry.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced a bill last month that he
contended would dramatically expand the Consumer Product Safety
Commission's ability to protect the public. Another piece of
legislation, introduced by Durbin and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., would
require third-party testing of imported and domestic toys and goods
designed for children 5 years old or younger.

The CPSC now allows manufacturers to inspect and approve their own
children's products.

"We need better regulation of the toy industry. Until then, parents
are going to have to be the watchdogs," said Joanne Oppenheim,
president of Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, which produces an annual
independent toy guide.

Hasbro Inc. said in a statement, it "maintains stringent quality
control standards in all aspects of the manufacturing process, in both
Hasbro-owned factories as well as factories that are contracted to
produce Hasbro-branded product."

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group that produces the "Sesame Street"
TV program said Thursday it plans independent audits and other steps
in an attempt to hold licensees to the highest health and safety
standards.

Retailers including KB Toys Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys "R" Us
Inc. said they removed all the affected products off the shelves in
recent days, but they are left to contend with shoppers' concerns.

"I'm going to pay much more attention to what I'm giving my children.
I absolutely would pay more for 'green' toys," said Schneider-Fisher.

___

Associated Press writers Emily Zeugner in Columbus, Ohio, and Rose
French in Nashville, Tenn. contributed to this report.

On Aug 4, 9:44 am, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall of defective imported (Chinese likely the
major one) in the future?

Tool quality is evident to the hand and eye. If it's going to be
recalled,
it'll look like a piece of junk to begin with.

Note the story I include covering other recalled imports.

TMT

Recall concerns parents, toy companies By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP
Business Writer

Wendy Schneider-Fisher is nervous about what toys to buy her children.
"I'm less inclined to buy anything from China," said Schneider-Fisher,
of New Albany, Ohio, who was heading into a local Toys "R" Us
Thursday. "And I'm upset our government doesn't do more to stop it."

It'll happen again.

Locally made wooden toys have always sold well. There's a wonderful
opportunity here for someone selling toys finished with vegetable-
based
dyes or milk paint, or no finish at all.

Already locally there are screw driver sets for two dollars. There is a
warning that the Roberston tips (square) are incorrectly sized.
Randy



"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
ups.com...
Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall of defective imported (Chinese likely the
major one) in the future?

Note the story I include covering other recalled imports.

TMT

Too_Many_Tools wrote:

Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall of defective imported (Chinese likely the
major one) in the future?


How many of your tools were sold by Fisher Price? How often do you
try to chew the paint off them?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Aug 4, 6:44 am, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall [of defective imported tools etc.]

The simple answer is: no. Those factories in China aren't branding
their goods, they're manufacturing in ship-container loads for US
distributors who apply a brand name. So, a 'manufacturer's recall'
would involve an act of generosity from a cutrate anonymous
manufacturer in China, and back-shipment of containerloads
of bad products from US to the orient. Not gonna happen; all the
actors in this scenario have a business plan without any such
line-items.

Dumping by a US distributor onto a third nation is more likely.
Certain,
in my humble opinion.

Outsourcing is a disturbing situation, because it breaks the consumer-
maker information channel. Antique furniture, even the crudest
green-wood stickbuilt items, is of high utility because the maker
probably
both used his own product and spoke with his customers. Years of
artisan
chairmaking resulted in sizes, designs, and even styles that have
become
classic. Most (non-artisan) massproduced chairs lack the
features that make those old designs lovable. No one with an 'office
chair' from Costco craves another like it when the first one breaks.

Tools are the same; it's hard to tell when you're buying whether
the product is what you really want, so I'm guilty of subsidizing the
worst products, more often than I like. A good example is the
Petersen Vise-Grip pliers; the styles, alloys, forgings, and
tolerances in
the original make it a fine tool. A similar-looking knockoff can have
loose joints, nonparallel pivots, misshaped jaws, too-soft teeth, or
weak alloys and poor heat treatment. It could be a good tool, or
a bad one, and there's no way for me to know until I've already
bought. Then I'm a dissatisfied customer for that bad tool, and
the Chinese manufactory hears nothing whatever about the situation.
How could they? Is [Wal-Mart/Sears] hearing my concerns, and passing
them on? Or bidding-out to a better subcontractor? Or are they
more likely to add racing stripes to the new model?

Fooled by the racing stripes, I then buy and try the new model, too.

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:38:38 -0700, whit3rd wrote:
On Aug 4, 6:44 am, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall [of defective imported tools etc.]

The simple answer is: no. Those factories in China aren't branding
their goods, they're manufacturing in ship-container loads for US
distributors who apply a brand name.

Seems to me we need to revoke China's most favored trade nation status
which, if I recall correctly, was a kickback from Clinton in exchange
for some campaign contributions. They certainly aren't trading with us
in good faith; between sending us poison pet food, poison toothpaste,
toyes with lead paint, toys made of lead, and yet more toys made with
lead paint - I just don't see that they're someone we should actually be
trading with at all, let alone giving preferential treatment to.

That, and from a strategic standpoint, we're gonna be in a hell of a
pinch next time we go to war with them; all of the US makers of the
products they're dumping on our markets will be out of business. Try to
buy USA-made plumbing components. If you have a source, let me know,
cause all I can find locally is chinese-made **** with porous castings.

On Aug 4, 11:13 am, Father Haskell wrote:
Tool quality is evident to the hand and eye. If it's going to be
recalled,
it'll look like a piece of junk to begin with.


Oh ?

How about the screw driver that looks fine, but the blade twists the
first time you put strong torque on it ?

How about the hammer that shrapnels in your face with the
first hard whack.

If you can "see" correct heat treatment and hardness with the naked
eye...well...you should get your own super hero costume.

Dave Hinz wrote:

Seems to me we need to revoke China's most favored trade nation status
which, if I recall correctly, was a kickback from Clinton in exchange
for some campaign contributions. They certainly aren't trading with
us in good faith; between sending us poison pet food, poison
toothpaste, toyes with lead paint, toys made of lead, and yet more
toys made with lead paint - I just don't see that they're someone we
should actually be trading with at all, let alone giving preferential
treatment to.

It's not the Chinese GOVERNMENT that's posioning cats directly - it's the
companies, firms, and crooked individuals behind the shipments. Further,
part of the fault lies with the American firms that trusted implicitly the
declarations of their suppliers. Would you blame the U.S. government if
there was an extra inch or two on your Stanley tape measure?


That, and from a strategic standpoint, we're gonna be in a hell of a
pinch next time we go to war with them; all of the US makers of the
products they're dumping on our markets will be out of business. Try
to buy USA-made plumbing components. If you have a source, let me
know, cause all I can find locally is chinese-made **** with porous
castings.

We've never been in a war with China (Boxer Rebellion exception) and never
will be. Disruption of trade would be much more catastrophic to China than
to the US.

or food safe shellac as used in M&M and fruits
"Father Haskell" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Aug 4, 9:44 am, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
Considering the ever increasing of recalls of dangerous imports, will
there be a future recall of defective imported (Chinese likely the
major one) in the future?

Tool quality is evident to the hand and eye. If it's going to be
recalled,
it'll look like a piece of junk to begin with.

Note the story I include covering other recalled imports.

TMT

Recall concerns parents, toy companies By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP
Business Writer

Wendy Schneider-Fisher is nervous about what toys to buy her children.
"I'm less inclined to buy anything from China," said Schneider-Fisher,
of New Albany, Ohio, who was heading into a local Toys "R" Us
Thursday. "And I'm upset our government doesn't do more to stop it."

It'll happen again.

Locally made wooden toys have always sold well. There's a wonderful
opportunity here for someone selling toys finished with vegetable-
based
dyes or milk paint, or no finish at all.

It took many years for the imports to start having recalls. I suspect it
will be many years before they catch up with the American made recalls.

Let's see,

Extra Strength Tylenol
Firestone Tires
Pinto Fuel Tanks
Spinich from California on numerous occasions
Ford Focus holds the record in the number of different recalls
GM cateletic converters in the 80's
GM rear control arm bolts
GM front wheel bearings


The list goes on.

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 16:15:24 -0500, HeyBub wrote:
Dave Hinz wrote:

Seems to me we need to revoke China's most favored trade nation status
which, if I recall correctly, was a kickback from Clinton in exchange
for some campaign contributions. They certainly aren't trading with
us in good faith; between sending us poison pet food, poison
toothpaste, toyes with lead paint, toys made of lead, and yet more
toys made with lead paint - I just don't see that they're someone we
should actually be trading with at all, let alone giving preferential
treatment to.

It's not the Chinese GOVERNMENT that's posioning cats directly - it's the
companies, firms, and crooked individuals behind the shipments.

Oh, well certainly, that changes _everything_. (me: rolls eyes)

Further,
part of the fault lies with the American firms that trusted implicitly the
declarations of their suppliers. Would you blame the U.S. government if
there was an extra inch or two on your Stanley tape measure?

Oh, bull****. First of all Stanley isn't USA'n any more as I'm sure you
know. Secondly, making a distinction between gumming sales and company
sales doesn't cut it - Clinton sold out and we're getting toxic products
in exchange for his treason.

That, and from a strategic standpoint, we're gonna be in a hell of a
pinch next time we go to war with them; all of the US makers of the
products they're dumping on our markets will be out of business. Try
to buy USA-made plumbing components. If you have a source, let me
know, cause all I can find locally is chinese-made **** with porous
castings.

We've never been in a war with China (Boxer Rebellion exception) and never
will be.

Wrong, and wrong. But go on.

Disruption of trade would be much more catastrophic to China than
to the US.

Good. Bring it on then.

On Aug 4, 4:26 pm, GatherNoMoss wrote:
On Aug 4, 11:13 am, Father Haskell wrote:

Tool quality is evident to the hand and eye. If it's going to be
recalled,
it'll look like a piece of junk to begin with.

Oh ?

How about the screw driver that looks fine, but the blade twists the
first time you put strong torque on it ?

How about the hammer that shrapnels in your face with the
first hard whack.

If you can "see" correct heat treatment and hardness with the naked
eye...well...you should get your own super hero costume.

Is the brand name also the brand name of, say, a forklift
company?

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:38:22 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"

How many of your tools were sold by Fisher Price?

Is Craftsman the same thing?

George Max wrote:

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:38:22 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"

How many of your tools were sold by Fisher Price?

Is Craftsman the same thing?


Close, but no hand painted Chinese plastic cigar.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

In rec.woodworking Leon wrote:
: It took many years for the imports to start having recalls. I suspect it
: will be many years before they catch up with the American made recalls.


: The list goes on.

Don't forget the 3.6 million passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs
Ford just recalled a day or two ago.

-- Andy Barss

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 01:51:00 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

George Max wrote:

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:38:22 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"

How many of your tools were sold by Fisher Price?

Is Craftsman the same thing?


Close, but no hand painted Chinese plastic cigar.

On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 03:48:14 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Barss
wrote:

In rec.woodworking Leon wrote:
: It took many years for the imports to start having recalls. I suspect it
: will be many years before they catch up with the American made recalls.


: The list goes on.

Don't forget the 3.6 million passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs
Ford just recalled a day or two ago.

-- Andy Barss


Isn't that the antilock brake thing?

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:56:35 GMT, "Leon"
wrote:

It took many years for the imports to start having recalls. I suspect it
will be many years before they catch up with the American made recalls.

Let's see,

Extra Strength Tylenol
Firestone Tires
Pinto Fuel Tanks
Spinich from California on numerous occasions
Ford Focus holds the record in the number of different recalls
GM cateletic converters in the 80's
GM rear control arm bolts
GM front wheel bearings


The list goes on.



Wasn't the Tylenol problem more a matter of some prick going around
deliberately tampering with it? That asshole was never caught.

The Cooper tire company once made a tire prone to falling apart at
ordinary freeway speeds.

That's what you get for eating spinach.

BTW, did your dog get sick or die after eating some of that Chinese
dog food? That was nice of them do that, wasn't it?

OTOH, it does at least look like the Chinese government is a little
serious about cleaning up the problems when they executed some high
ranking official for that kind of thing.

On Aug 5, 10:00 pm, George Max
wrote:
On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 03:48:14 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Barss

wrote:
In rec.woodworking Leon wrote:
: It took many years for the imports to start having recalls. I suspect it
: will be many years before they catch up with the American made recalls.

: The list goes on.

Don't forget the 3.6 million passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs
Ford just recalled a day or two ago.

-- Andy Barss

Isn't that the antilock brake thing?

Nope...it is the cruise control...which starts a fire which usually
burns the house down.

Just like those nonUL listed Chinese motors/batteries in those cheap
tools we buy.

TMT

"George Max" wrote in message

OTOH, it does at least look like the Chinese government is a little
serious about cleaning up the problems when they executed some high
ranking official for that kind of thing.

Hmmm ... there's good imports and bad imports. With that mindset we could
start with polilawyerticians and ...

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Seems to me we need to revoke China's most favored trade nation status
which, if I recall correctly, was a kickback from Clinton in exchange
for some campaign contributions. They certainly aren't trading with us
in good faith; between sending us poison pet food, poison toothpaste,
toyes with lead paint, toys made of lead, and yet more toys made with
lead paint - I just don't see that they're someone we should actually be
trading with at all, let alone giving preferential treatment to.
I think that the companies importing the products should be doing
minimal quality assurance. Don't you think that they should have it it
in the contracts that the products must meet at least minimal
standards? Shouldn't someone test to make sure those standards are
met? I mean, if you are paying extra for some brand name, shouldn't
they be doing something for the money?

That, and from a strategic standpoint, we're gonna be in a hell of a
pinch next time we go to war with them; all of the US makers of the
products they're dumping on our markets will be out of business. Try to
buy USA-made plumbing components. If you have a source, let me know,
cause all I can find locally is chinese-made **** with porous castings.
Too true -- China has a lot of power over this country right now. It
might not last forever, but it will make things very hard for the US
until we do better with our own finances and manufacturing.