Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Does Elmo have evil in his heart?

More bad news from the "Made in China front", as yet more items make it to the dangerous list and North American companies begin to wonder how long they can keep importing items that might affect more than just the bottom line.

Last week it was the Easy Bake oven and its dangerous light bulbs, this week it's Elmo and a collection of other popular toys all on the danger list due to an excessive amount of lead in the paint used to make them colourful.

A total of 967,000 toys are affected, all made in China and sold in the US from May to August. The recall of Fisher Price products due to paint problems, calls to mind the recall of earlier this year when Thomas the Tank engine sets were recalled for another problem with too much lead in the paint used to decorate the toys.

There have also been problems with pet food, tooth paste, tires and a host of other consumer products all of which are failing to make North American standards it seems.

Critics of the mass production of items from China, have long suggested that health standards are quite lax in the factories of that country, leading to potentially dangerous products making their way to North American consumers.

It's been a cause that Lou Dobbs has given a nightly forum for on his business program on CNN, making almost a crusade to keep hazardous products from overseas from the American store shelves.

For now E is for Elmo, and E is for Evil, at least if Elmo comes with a made in China sticker...

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