So Is Anything From China Safe to Buy? I'm beginning to wonder.

[leftyladyfrommo]

Toys? Definitely not.

Clothes? Probably

Flipflops? Probably not - I have seen flipflops that people bough and wore that burned all the skin on their feet and took weeks to heal.

Medicine? I sure wouldn't.

Food? Not on your life.

Pet Food? Not on your life.

I did buy a floor fan during this recent heat wave that was made in China and it is a really good fan. Hopefully its not full of lead or something.

[liberal N proud]

1. You get what you pay for

Do I need to say anything more?

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. Walmart is having trouble - blaming it on people running our of money

at the end of the month.

I kind of wonder if it might have more to do with the fact that everything in Walmart is made in China and people are starting to not buy Chinese.

[slackmaster]

3. China from china is probably OK

As long as it doesn't have uranium in the glaze.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. Or lead in the paint!

Trouble is you just don'g know. They sure don't put warning signs on their stuff.

Kind of like the fake real cat and dog fur on their jackets. That one is sure sickening.

Would I buy a caot from China? Not if is has any kind of "fake" fur on it.

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Cheap pottery glazes often have lead

Lead oxides are a common component of many pigments, which is where the lead in toys and on some clothing comes from. Those pigments can (and too often are) used when making ceramicware.

I certainly would not trust Chinese ceramics, especially dishes and cups that come in contact with food.

[Eurobabe]

11. Yeah and even stores like Williams-Sonoma hawk this shit

I have some breakfast plates from China, the glaze is cracked and I wonder what is in the plates themselves? :shrug: I think I will just throw them in the garbage and seek out some Villeroy-Boch from Germany, might be expensive, but at least I know where the hell they are made!!

[TechBear_Seattle]

18. High-end stuff is most likely safe

Williams-Sonoma is high-end enough to do their own QC, and companies selling to stores like them are probably not cutting a lot of corners. I would be far more concerned about stuff sold in Wal-Mart and discount import shops.

As for the crackling, that is (usually) a deliberate effect done for aesthetic reasons. It does not affect the quality of the piece, nor does it expose the fired clay, as there is (should be) a second, uncrackled glaze over it.

[Eurobabe]

20. Nah, these plates are cracked from the microwave

it's not "crackled on purpose," believe me. As far as W-S, they better have some damn good QC!

[TechBear_Seattle]

23. Yeah, they should be tossed then

A small chip on an edge isn't something to worry about, but cracks like that which are not part of the design probably are.

[blindersoff]

22. a suggestion from a potter...

Why not find a good potter in your local area and buy from them??? Most ceramic artists are very conscious about good glaze fit and do not use lead or other suspect chemicals in glazes for functional ware. Just a thought... support your local artisan rather than the big stores!!

[TechBear_Seattle]

25. Most definitely, thanks for the suggestion

I've had my current dishes for almost 12 years, and they are looking a tad worn. When I do go about replacing them (or at least getting a nice set for company), I plan to get find an artist at one of Seattle's many craft fairs and do some haggling. I've been told by the artists themselves that while they sell the plates and bowls for $20 each, they would be delighted to reduce per-piece cost if you buy a set (and keep in mind that these are individually hand-crafted works of art and not mass-produced crap :hi: )

[blindersoff]

29. my husband and I own a pottery business in Sequim

and do many of the local festivals and open air markets around here.

[TechBear_Seattle]

31. I've probably chatted with you, then. Got a website?

I regularly go to the University Way street fair, Folklife and Fremont. :hi:

[Eurobabe]

34. I'd love nothing better than to junk all my plates and

get an entire set of what I REALLY want from Bennington Potters in Vermont. (Maybe I will ask Santa for Xmas?) Besides, they are so much more meaningful. I grew up near Bennington.

Good idea! :hi:

PS. Potters RULE! My daughter will be using pottery as one of her media in her art therapy program. She's quite talented.

[Help me help Earth]

5. Don't worry too much.

How many Chinese products have you undoubtedly encountered in your life? Thousands? Tens of Thousands? The vast majority is likely fine, the media just needs it's summer scare stories to harp on.

At least they got a legit story this time. Nothing was worse then the pre-9/11 summer of sharks.

[Eurobabe]

8. I think not. Have you had an animal die because of tainted food?

Just a media scare my fucking ass!

[Help me help Earth]

14. China exports over $50 billion in good to the US each year.

This year we have already imported over $30 billion in Chinese products. If the quality was that bad, there would be far more cases of poisoning/death then there has been. The Chinese do have major quality problems, but not nearly as bad as some are making out.

[iamjoy]

17. It Is Exaggerated, Though

If you did indeed have an animal die, I am sorry and do not mean to trivialize your loss or any other.

However, let us be fair here. Remember the e coli in the spinach? The salmonella in the peanut butter? The botulism in the beef stew? These were all American food products.

Because most of our goods come from China now, it stands to reason (statistically) that most of the problems will come from China too.

On the other hand, I think it is good that this is getting so much media attention. Rather than "blaming" the Chinese though, we ought to take a good hard look at our own culture and our pursuit for the lowest price. We can't have it all.

And of course, look at the attitude of CEOs here when something goes wrong versus leaders in China. The head of the company that put the lead paint in children's toys committed suicide. While I taking one's life as a matter of honor goes too far, the contrast to CEOs here who poison and rob people and then laugh about it on their yachts is startling to say the least. (of course that last line is an exaggeration as I have no direct evidence of any CEO laughing on a yacht about screwing the poor)

[Eurobabe]

19. No one is disagreeing with you, it is US corporate greed that

fueled this fire, along with lax governmental agencies that have failed to do their jobs. Another Bush fiasco.

[Eurobabe]

7. I am trying to boycott all goods from China

I don't want any of that trash in my house anymore. Real damn shame for the Chinese people, how they are being used by their government.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. I try not to buy Chinese, too. But I bought my fan before I looked

at where it was made.

Boy, China trying to clean up its act before the Olympic games is getting to be a really interesting story.

I read this morning that they are stopping the outfits that take care of AIDS and HIV patients. Out of sight, out of mind.

[Eurobabe]

36. Hey, I've gotten caught too, like the Italian-Chinese garlic!

It makes me sick to think about ingesting anything from that country (China, not Italy).

How the fuck they ever got the Olympics (other than appeasement of corporate whores on all sides of the table) is beyond me.

[april]

9. not tires! yes China has a recall on tires

[Virginia Dare]

10. The problem is, it's impossible to know..

just like it's impossible to know whether the person who manufactured that item was a prisoner, or a child, or being beaten.

[IndianaJones]

13. chicken beaks. nt.

[Romulox]

15. Aside from produce

There are no laws requiring country of origin labeling on medicine or processed food. There is no way to know.

Have you seen the commercials touting the "made in USA" Tylenol? All my sources say that 90% of the acetaminophen in the world is produced in China. Sure enough, my bottle of extra-strength Tylenol says "distributed by McNeil".

Doesn't say a word about "Made in the USA". So it appears absent regulations, companies are free to make any claim they want about country of origin.

[ThomWV]

16. Of course.

There is no good reason to think that something made in China is of any better or any lessor quality than anything made anywhere else in the world. There is also no good reason to think that among the people of China there are any more or any fewer people willing to cut corners to make a profit, even at the peril of their customers.

Not one thing that has come into this country from China and turned out to be somehow tainted was a first for us. Poisoned pet food has been sold in our stores before, only it was made in Illinois the last time. We've had toys that turned out to be little death traps made in every state in this nation. Medicine? I am old enough to remember American made medicines that were purposefully poisoned in the factories by disgruntled workers.

It happens everywhere.

Now if you want to avoid Chinese made goods on humanitarian grounds I'm right there with you. I just don't think its at all fair to think that Chinese made goods are inherently unsafe, at least not any more or less so than goods made anywhere else.

[Romulox]

30. So because someone once made a defective product in the USA

We should just shut up and accept unregulated "free trade" with a country that is poisoning our pets and children.

Makes sense. :sarcasm:

[mctrotter5]

21. Buying from the USA is about keeping jobs here and pushing

for stronger labor and safety protections.

[porphyrian]

24. Kung Fu movies. - n/t

[MadHound]

26. That is one silver lining in all of this recall madness

The American consumer will start demanding that serious quality control be reinstated, will be willing to pay for it, and manufacturing jobs will come back to our shores.

[Javaman]

27. Mrs. Simpson, those energy bars are nothing but apple cores and old chinese newspapers!!

got to love the simpsons.

[treestar]

28. Probably most things

Anything from anywhere can be defective.

Even Americans make defective products.

Probably most of the Chinese products are OK. The few misses are getting all the publicity. The MSM is not known for providing perspective.

Funny, I wonder if all those who are big on whining about frivolous product liability lawsuits in the U.S. are being consistent on this.

[rucky]

32. All of these awful recalls have another thing in common...

Not only were they outsourced to China, but the quality control was outsourced to the manufacturer.

There are still plenty of products made in china that are okay, as long as the contracting company has their staff there ONSITE to inspect the products when they're made, and here to inspect the products when they're received.

My wife has an online kids boutique, and I know that Melissa & Doug toys are safe, so are HABA (which are mostly made in Germany).

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Broadslidin]

35. Please Remember to Unplug Your Chinese/Mal-Mart appliance when....

the purring device is not in use.

Tis common knowledge,
The shoddy on-off switch and/or the electrical wiring
can be expected
to suddenly short out and begin belching acrid black smoke
and finally, flames.....!!

[leftyladyfrommo]

37. Great! Thanks for the warning. n/t

[Rosemary2205]

38. Who freakin cares!! Buy American regardless.

When blue collar outsourcing began unions were begging all those office people to buy American and everyone just laughed at the "union jerks too lazy to keep up with foreign workers". Well now you people see where it got you. Dangerous food and products and lower wages. White collars in America should be begging for forgiveness at the feet of every former union worker they can find.

[leftofthedial]

39. it's total economic war

kill our economy with their products

kill our children with their products

kill our future withour products

take over

kill our past