Made (Poorly) in China

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August 2007
- The upside for China of tougher regulations
  
  International Herald Tribune | Aug 23, 07
  
  BEIJING: Every cloud supposedly has a silver lining, and Chinese industry's bill for complying with stepped-up safety standards after a string of embarrassing product recalls is no exception. The additional outlays will further inflate the "China price," and the rest of the world is already paying a bit more for Chinese imports because of the gradually appreciating yuan and higher costs for everything from land to labor. But industry executives say the extra burden, along with the phasing out of tax breaks and new curbs on low-end manufacturing, will also serve China's strategic goal of pushing...
- Wal-Mart Owns Up to Melamine in Dog Treats
  
  Associated Press | Aug 22, 07 10:20 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Two Chinese brands of dog treats sold at Wal-Mart contain a toxic chemical, the discount giant confirms. Customer complaints about the products prompted the company to quietly pull them from its shelves last month as it waited for further tests. The results confirmed the presence of melamine, the chemical at the center of another recall in March. More »
- China-Made Baby Bibs Contain Lead
  
  New York Times | Aug 15, 07 4:59 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Tests by a non-profit agency and the NY Times found made-in-China baby bibs sold at Toys "R" Us contaminated with lead, the paper reported today. After its own recent tests, a government agency did not move to recall the bib; Wal-Mart voluntarily removed bibs made by the same company earlier this year. More »
- Mattel Recalls 18M More Toys Made in China
  
  Wall Street Journal | Aug 14, 07 10:45 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mattel today announced a second, much bigger recall of Chinese-made toys that may be hazardous: 18 million of them worldwide, and 9 million in the US. The recalled items include play sets containing magnets that can be dangerous when swallowed and die-cast cars that contain lead paint. The play sets include Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The cars include Sarge military jeeps. More »
- Chinese Toy Exec Commits Suicide After Recall
  
  Washington Post | Aug 13, 07 7:59 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The head of a Chinese company that made a million of the lead-tainted toys recalled by Mattel last month hanged himself in his warehouse this weekend. Zhang Shuhong's suicide followed the announcement Thursday that China banned exports from his company because of the defects. Colleagues reported that Zhang had been sold the tainted paint by his best friend. More »
- Mattel Recalls 1.5M Toys Made in China
  
  Bloomberg | Aug 2, 07 5:47 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mattel is recalling some 1.5 million Chinese-made toys found to have "excessive levels" of lead in their paint. The Elmo's Guitar, Ernie Splashin' Fun Trike and 81 other types of toys, mostly Nickelodean and Sesame Street products, were marketed under Mattel's Fisher-Price brand and cost between $5 and $40, Bloomberg reports. More »
July 2007
- Recipe for Disaster: Easy-Bake Oven + Kids
  
  Associated Press | Jul 20, 07 12:58 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A repair kit intended to make Easy-Bake Ovens safer hasn't done its job, forcing the manufacturer to issue its second recall in less than a year. Hasbro said yesterday that hundreds of children have caught hands or fingers in the oven doors, and the AP reports that one girl was burned so badly she had part of a finger amputated. More »
- China Executes Ex-Food and Drug Czar
  
  New York Times | Jul 10, 07 11:44 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China carried out a swift death sentence against the former head of its food and drug administration today, in an apparent reaction to concerns about the safety of its exports. Zheng Xiaoyu was killed just over 2 weeks after the supreme court rejected his appeal on a May conviction for accepting bribes while head of the watchdog government arm. More »
June 2007
- Chinese PR Combats Export Rap
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jun 30, 07 11:05 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China is on a public relations blitz to keep its exports solvent after nonstop coverage of unsafe toothpaste, fish and even tires in the US, China's largest customer, last week. Beijing broke its pattern of protest over the coverage, shutting down 180 offending factories and promising consumers that tainted food represents a fraction of US imports from China. More »
- FDA Flags Chinese Seafood
  
  Associated Press | Jun 28, 07 6:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Add farmed seafood to the list of unsafe goods imported from China. The FDA will detain three varieties of fish as well as shrimp and eel, the agency said today, after tests revealed the presence of antibiotics and antifungals that aren't approved in the US for use in aquaculture. The level of contamination and risk to consumers are low. More »
- China Closes 180 Food Plants
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jun 28, 07 3:51 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Chinese government has shut down 180 food manufacturing plants for racking up a whopping 23,000 violations in the last six months, most of them for using chemicals and industrial materials as food fillers to cut costs. Almost all were small and unlicensed, making it unlikely their products, worth some $26 million, reached international markets. More »
- China Shutters Scores of Food Factories
  
  Associated Press | Jun 27, 07 12:49 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Chinese government has closed 180 factories that were using dangerous and illegal ingredients, such as formaldehyde, in food products. The relatively large number of plants casts serious doubt on Beijing's insistence that the recent rash of tainted products originated with a small number of sources, the AP reports: A government official said the shutdowns were "not isolated cases." More »
- Safety of Chinese-Made Toys Is Hardly Child's Play
  
  New York Times | Jun 19, 07 7:25 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The latest Chinese products posing safety problems for consumers are children's toys, joining toothpaste, pet food, and drugs on an increasingly worrisome list, the New York Times reports. Last week's recall of Thomas & Friends train toys brought the total number of toys recalled by the US this year to for safety reasons to 24—all made in China. More »
May 2007
- Trail of Chinese Chemicals Leads to Toothpaste
  
  New York Times | May 22, 07 8:02 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Dominican Republic is the latest country investigating the possibility that a poisonous chemical from China wound up in a consumer product. This time it's toothpaste that contains the industrial solvent diethylene glycol, which has already turned up in Panama and Australia, the Times reports. The Chinese government has tracked the toothpaste to factories in the Danyang region. More »
- Ban Chinese Ingredients? Easier Said Than Done
  
  Los Angeles Times | May 18, 07 8:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In the wake of the pet-food poisoning scandal, some of the biggest U.S. food manufacturers—Tyson and Mission Foods—have banned Chinese ingredients. But since China is the world's biggest supplier of the flavorings, vitamins and preservatives that are used in virtually all processed foods, the bans may be impossible to uphold, the LA Times observes. More »
- Second Toxin Found in Lethal Pet Food
  
  New York Times | May 9, 07 7:19 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Add cyanuric acid to the list of industrial chemicals found in the contaminated pet food that killed thousands of dogs and cats. Like melamine, it was used by Chinese animal feed producers to fake higher protein content in their wheat and rice products, the New York Times reports. More »
- Toxic Cough Syrup Causes Deaths in Panama
  
  New York Times | May 6, 07 8:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - American drugmakers are on the lookout this week for another in the growing list of potentially deadly Chinese exports. This time, it's diethylene glycol, a sweet-but-toxic chemical that masquerades as glycerin in common medications like cough syrup and that has already killed almost 400 people—many of them children—in Panama. More »
- China Detains Pet Food Contaminator
  
  International Herald Tribune | May 4, 07 6:35 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Chinese authorities have jailed the head of a company accused of selling pet food makers the melamine-contaminated gluten that's killed thousands of cats and dogs. The detention of Mao Lijun suggests Beijing is eager to cooperate with the FDA investigators currently on its turf, after initially disavowing any gluten sales to the U.S. at all. More »
- FDA Names Food Safety Czar After Chicken Scare
  
  Chicago Tribune | May 2, 07 8:16 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The FDA appointed a food safety czar yesterday, as the news that 3 million chickens had been fed melamine-tainted feed exacerbated growing public anxiety about food safety. The FDA said the chickens weren't recalled because most of them would have been sold by now, and the melamine was too diluted to be a health hazard for humans. More »
April 2007
- Chinese Add Melamine to Animal Feed
  
  New York Times | Apr 30, 07 7:04 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The compound that tainted pet food and is being blamed for hundreds of pet illnesses and deaths is a commonly used additive in animal feed in China, reports the New York Times . The coal derivative melamine, used in plastics and fertilizers, is nitrogen-rich, which triggers tests for protein content. More »