bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2007-09-22 10:07 am
bigmacbear) wrote2007-09-22 10:07 am
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The Toy Debacle
The CBC had a story about the Chinese toy debacle, and Mattel's abject apology for its role in it, last night. It seems there were two reasons Mattel recalled toys made in China, and in all the press coverage these were often conflated:
1. A large chunk of the recalled toys had small, powerful magnets in them. This was a design flaw on Mattel's part, had nothing to do with the manufacturers, and is what they were apologizing to the Chinese for. Incidentally, the reason such toys are hazardous is because kids under a certain age (usually three) tend to swallow things they shouldn't, and the magnets can cause fatal intestinal obstruction (a child here in Washington state died after swallowing magnetic toys).
2. A smaller portion of the recalled toys were hazardous because of lead paint. This was the Chinese manufacturer's fault and Mattel put out a press release after the staged apology clarifying that the lead-paint recalls were not included in their apology. Two days earlier Mattel testified before the US Congress that in this case, their standards were not followed and their rules were broken.
The scary statistic the CBC reported was that 80% of toys worldwide are made in China. I suspect all sorts of low-tech manufactured goods will have very high percentages made in China thanks to the price pressure of Wal-Mart and its brethren in the discount retail business. In my opinion the death of domestic manufacturing is a national security issue (and that applies about equally to Canada as to the US). We won't be able to rely on trans-Pacific shipping on the current scale forever; it isn't sustainable.
1. A large chunk of the recalled toys had small, powerful magnets in them. This was a design flaw on Mattel's part, had nothing to do with the manufacturers, and is what they were apologizing to the Chinese for. Incidentally, the reason such toys are hazardous is because kids under a certain age (usually three) tend to swallow things they shouldn't, and the magnets can cause fatal intestinal obstruction (a child here in Washington state died after swallowing magnetic toys).
2. A smaller portion of the recalled toys were hazardous because of lead paint. This was the Chinese manufacturer's fault and Mattel put out a press release after the staged apology clarifying that the lead-paint recalls were not included in their apology. Two days earlier Mattel testified before the US Congress that in this case, their standards were not followed and their rules were broken.
The scary statistic the CBC reported was that 80% of toys worldwide are made in China. I suspect all sorts of low-tech manufactured goods will have very high percentages made in China thanks to the price pressure of Wal-Mart and its brethren in the discount retail business. In my opinion the death of domestic manufacturing is a national security issue (and that applies about equally to Canada as to the US). We won't be able to rely on trans-Pacific shipping on the current scale forever; it isn't sustainable.
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For decades, there were factories all over the US and Canada that manufactured pots and pans and household appliances and consumer electronics, and now none of that is done here. Almost all of it is now in China, with some manufacturing of bigger, heavier appliances like washing machines and such being migrated to Mexico.
Yes, for now, it does mean lower prices at Wal-Mart. At least until the Chinese currency is allowed to float upward and the US dollar continues to sink.
But in the future, when engineering and tool-and-die making and design and set up of manufacturing lines and similar skills are needed in the United States and Canada, where will the people come from who can do those things? There won't be anybody on this side of the Pacific who can do it.
I think we are all going to regret this in the long run.
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