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August 15, 2007
Baby-bibs Made in China Test Positive for Lead
Lead, again. The New York Times -- "everything that fits, we print" -- opines obliquely this morning on the subject of Chinese imports. Portions are intelligble. Let me endeavor to translate Times-speak to American English (I am not yet certified but well-acquainted with the slant of the handwriting.)
“That’s the price of doing business,” is the too-often-heard excuse from American companies that choose to overlook China’s loose business ethics and tight, verging on strangling, political controls.
We sit on this high moral perch of ours. (Stop whispering among yourselves about goings-on inside the Times!) American businessmen dealing with China -- look up at me as we speak to you! Gavel bangs. Guilty!. Gavel bangs. Order, we must have order! The convicted will now listen to our solution to the whole import safety megillah.
It is definitely not in America’s interest — economic, political or strategic — to erect a barricade against Chinese imports, which could spark a mutually destructive trade war. American businesses and the Bush administration must send a clear message to Beijing that it has to clean up its act or its export-led boom will falter.
Don't fight. Who wants a black eye? But everybody start yelling.
What China needs is an effective and transparent regulatory system to enforce product safety standards. The United States and other countries can help with technical advice and warnings about what would happen if Beijing refuses to take it. But the dangers are too immediate to wait.
Maintain the status quo. Let's get in there and continue to assist the competition to the American workforce do a better job than they're doing now, as we did elsewhere in Asia for the last 40 years. Golly, do you think lead in my gavel can cause brain damage?
Companies like Mattel may need to station their own full-time inspectors with their Chinese suppliers — and make clear that they’ll take their business elsewhere if those suppliers refuse to go along.
We don't care if Chinese are so darn smart they can evade just about any restriction placed upon them. Stop talking! Gavel bangs. We don't care if inspectors can be paid off. (Can they do that? Don't we have the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1976?) Let's simply be straightforward about it and make another demand.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration, which disdains America’s regulatory system, has cut personnel and squeezed budgets at both the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, impairing their ability to monitor the quality of products made in China or, indeed, anywhere else.
It's Bush's fault.
There are some signs that China’s government may finally be getting the message. And for the sake of its own children, as well as America’s, China must establish an effective regulatory system and guarantee the safety of its own products. But American consumers can’t wait for that to happen. American businesses and American regulators have to provide the first line of defense.
America - it's up to you! Well, just industry and government, two major bees we've carried in our bonnet since time immemorial. Inspect everything. Help China. And to the masses of American consumers: you may continue buying whatever you please.
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