Guess what?
More toys out of China with 125% of the USRDA of lead. This is getting monotonous, and the implications haven't fully played themselves out. Remember the bib recall? Are we checking other cloth products out of China? How about that tee shirt you're wearing? Was it tested? Are you getting your RDA of formaldehyde? See where this is going?
If Chinese textiles start turning up with toxic dyes, that's going to give consumer confidence a whack. There's no telling where this could go...
This is not good for places like Wally World.
ReplyDeleteWhere is will go is people will realize that cheapest isn't always best, not if it means exposure to lead, or anti-freeze in your toothpaste.
ReplyDeleteYep. Could get ugly. Pretty soon, the only "ethically sourced" and HD code-passin' products will be things like my my beloved $800 Christian Louboutin shoes with their Italian calfskin that's been chewed into a supple state by virgins in the light of a full moon reflected off alpine lakes. Yay! Then I can has excuse. Whoopee!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just had to jump on the sofa a bit.
It's a damned hard row to hoe-- having standards is. Always relying on the laziness of gubmint workers, if these products are rife with toxins and/or pathogens, there will be a point where the people doing the testing will bore with the procedures involved in calling out the bad stuff, and then we have the potential for a real crisis in public confidence.
OTOH, it'll be great for the cottage clothing industry here which produces its own wool and flax garments.
In any case, it spells life getting waaay more expensive.
But I have to wonder, are they really that bad for us?
ReplyDeleteNot defending outsourcing or cheap imports, but think about this:
When we were kids, lead based paint was everywhere. The finger paints we used in school have been labeled "toxic" now. The daily activities we did have been deemed dangerous now. How many times did we have a helmet on while riding our bikes?
And all of the "danger warnings" have come from our .gov. The same people who couldn't make money in the whorehouse business are telling us whats safe?
I'm just not so worried.
IIRC, the only real-world correlation between paint-eating and brain damage (the study that removed tetraethyl from gas and cost us over 10% of the fuel supply) was in a Chicago housing project built by...the federal government. FWIW, you might also look up who was the largest slave-holder.
ReplyDeleteI can has more mercury in my bullets!
ReplyDeleteThe reason they generated all that hysteria about lead back in the '70s was to get the people to buy into the idea of removing it from gasoline. The only thing that would remove those smog elements from car exhaust in LA was the catalytic converter, which can't handle lead. The only way to get lead into you from gasoline is to drink it, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteHey if they keep exporting all of this lead to us, maybe the bullets won't cost as much?
ReplyDeleteYeah just wishful thinking....