Web Wealth: Product safety
A succession of Chinese product-safety issues this year - dog food, tires, toys - led us to these sites about Chinese manufacturers and what's in place for reporting and recalling defective products.
A succession of Chinese product-safety issues this year - dog food, tires, toys - led us to these sites about Chinese manufacturers and what's in place for reporting and recalling defective products.
Made in China. Low costs provide much of the attraction to Chinese products. A Chinese company operates this Web site, where U.S. and other firms can find manufacturers to build their widgets, or find products to import. The site showcases a dizzying array of products, such as dirt bikes, chemicals, textiles, machinery and - yes - toys.
Culture clash. A culture clash is at least part of the problem. A Food and Drug Administration official testified in Congress last month that the agency's scientists "have been working with their Chinese counterparts for several years in an effort to help them better understand our standards and the science that supports those standards." Read the testimony here:
www.fda.gov/ola/2007/chineseimport071807.html
Ralph Nader. The archetypal consumer advocate weighs in here on the subject of Chinese imports.
www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/09/2409/
Recall central. About 4,000 product recalls and safety alerts are gathered here on the site of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And, from this page, you may now use syndication feeds to configure your own Web site or blog to automatically post recall notices from four categories - toys, household products, outdoor products, and sporting goods.
www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html
Complaint central. Go to this central page to lodge a complaint with any of several federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or the Food and Drug Administration.