Made in China: Chinese imports are everywhere you look
By Kym Klass
China is a part of your life.
Look at the bottom of your Starbucks mug: Made in China. The tag on your Luxury Springmaid comforter: Made in China.
The Motorola Q smartphone, sunglasses, the U.S. flag. China, China, China.
And that's just scratching the surface: Wilson tennis balls, the Oster 6-slice toaster oven, Protg luggage, a Sunbeam coffee pot, forks, Lance Armstong's Livestrong yellow bracelets, Faded Glory jeans, Sparco binder clips.
Oh, don't forget the wok.
"Everything is from China," confirms Jenny Johnston of Wetumpka.
All that's missing from your daily walk through the Bicycle Kingdom is the Great Wall.
These days, though, it's a walk that fewer and fewer Americans want to take. Their trust has been shaken by the recall of a growing number of products made in China. The most recent was Tuesday, when Mattel Inc. recalled about 19 million toys with lead paint and loose magnets.
In June, the product pulled from the shelves was toothpaste that possibly contained a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze. The month before that, it was catfish treated with a banned antibiotic. And the month before that it was pet food made with contaminated rice protein.
Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks is a leading critic of Chinese imports, which government figures show Americans spent almost $250 billion -- yes, billion -- on last year.
Sparks and his counterparts in Mississippi and Louisiana grabbed national headlines when they banned the sale of all Chinese catfish in their states.
"We are a global world, we are going to have trade, but I don't think we should let other countries produce things that we don't allow here," Sparks said. "I want us to have safe food, our children to play with safe toys. I want you to be able to brush your teeth with safe toothpaste and for our dogs to have safe food."
Products made in China make up "the large majority" of imports recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the watchdog agency's acting chairman, Nancy A. Nord, told Congress last month.
"These imports have strained the agency's resources and challenge us to find new ways to work to ensure the safety of imported products that enter the stream of commerce," Nord stated in written testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The commission, she stated, has a four-part plan of action: developing strategies with the commission's Chinese counterpart to exchange inspectors and information on product safety, working with Chinese manufacturers directly and increasing surveillance and enforcement at U.S. ports and updating U.S. statutes.
Also at the federal level, President Bush has created a panel comprised mostly of Cabinet members to review current import safety practices and determine where improvements can be made.
The Working Group on Import Safety will look at what is being done to promote import safety in the exporting country, by U.S. importing companies and by federal, state and local governments, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The panel's initial recommendations are due to the president by mid-September.
As of spring, the federal government inspects less than 2 percent of imported fish, vegetables and fruit but regularly finds -- through those inspections -- food unfit for human consumption, according to The Associated Press.
"If they're only going to check 2 percent," Sparks said, "you ought to look at the violations in that 2 percent."
For food scientist Jean Weese, the responsibility for safety lies with the American importing companies -- not with the government. The Chinese and U.S. governments simply don't have the resources or time to test every product, said Weese, who teaches at Auburn University and works for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
"The U.S. does send in inspectors," she said, "but there's no way they could test all the food. If they did, we would have no food. It is up to the company bringing in items from China (to determine) that those items are safe."
Weese believes consumers also need to play a role in import safety and advises them to read product labels. Not all labels, however, disclose the country of origin, she said.
"A whole bunch of other products are being brought in and sold under our labels," she said. "That happens more and more because labor is so cheap, especially in China."
The only ways to know without a doubt where food comes from, according to Weese, is to either grow it or buy it from a farmer's market.
"Everything we ate, we grew," Weese said of her own childhood. "Now that's not the case. You get food at the grocery store and don't know where it comes from."
Sparks thinks the White House recognizes the importance of accountability, particularly on the part of the country of origin.
"We've got to put some of the responsibility on the people who are sending it to us," he said. "There ought to be drastic measures taken at that time if they aren't."
Unlike Sparks, Weese doesn't believe that importing nations will be as aggressive on safety as the American consumers and the government want.
"We're hoping that other countries' standards will meet our expectations and our U.S. standards," she said.
Sparks vows he will remain aggressive in protecting Alabamians from unsafe imports of all types, especially food, and from all countries.
"Folks in Alabama don't want to eat that garbage," he said. "And as long as I'm commissioner, I'm going to catch it at the door and send it back."
montgomeryadvertiser.com
By Kym Klass
China is a part of your life.
Look at the bottom of your Starbucks mug: Made in China. The tag on your Luxury Springmaid comforter: Made in China.
The Motorola Q smartphone, sunglasses, the U.S. flag. China, China, China.
And that's just scratching the surface: Wilson tennis balls, the Oster 6-slice toaster oven, Protg luggage, a Sunbeam coffee pot, forks, Lance Armstong's Livestrong yellow bracelets, Faded Glory jeans, Sparco binder clips.
Oh, don't forget the wok.
"Everything is from China," confirms Jenny Johnston of Wetumpka.
All that's missing from your daily walk through the Bicycle Kingdom is the Great Wall.
These days, though, it's a walk that fewer and fewer Americans want to take. Their trust has been shaken by the recall of a growing number of products made in China. The most recent was Tuesday, when Mattel Inc. recalled about 19 million toys with lead paint and loose magnets.
In June, the product pulled from the shelves was toothpaste that possibly contained a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze. The month before that, it was catfish treated with a banned antibiotic. And the month before that it was pet food made with contaminated rice protein.
Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks is a leading critic of Chinese imports, which government figures show Americans spent almost $250 billion -- yes, billion -- on last year.
Sparks and his counterparts in Mississippi and Louisiana grabbed national headlines when they banned the sale of all Chinese catfish in their states.
"We are a global world, we are going to have trade, but I don't think we should let other countries produce things that we don't allow here," Sparks said. "I want us to have safe food, our children to play with safe toys. I want you to be able to brush your teeth with safe toothpaste and for our dogs to have safe food."
Products made in China make up "the large majority" of imports recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the watchdog agency's acting chairman, Nancy A. Nord, told Congress last month.
"These imports have strained the agency's resources and challenge us to find new ways to work to ensure the safety of imported products that enter the stream of commerce," Nord stated in written testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
The commission, she stated, has a four-part plan of action: developing strategies with the commission's Chinese counterpart to exchange inspectors and information on product safety, working with Chinese manufacturers directly and increasing surveillance and enforcement at U.S. ports and updating U.S. statutes.
Also at the federal level, President Bush has created a panel comprised mostly of Cabinet members to review current import safety practices and determine where improvements can be made.
The Working Group on Import Safety will look at what is being done to promote import safety in the exporting country, by U.S. importing companies and by federal, state and local governments, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The panel's initial recommendations are due to the president by mid-September.
As of spring, the federal government inspects less than 2 percent of imported fish, vegetables and fruit but regularly finds -- through those inspections -- food unfit for human consumption, according to The Associated Press.
"If they're only going to check 2 percent," Sparks said, "you ought to look at the violations in that 2 percent."
For food scientist Jean Weese, the responsibility for safety lies with the American importing companies -- not with the government. The Chinese and U.S. governments simply don't have the resources or time to test every product, said Weese, who teaches at Auburn University and works for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
"The U.S. does send in inspectors," she said, "but there's no way they could test all the food. If they did, we would have no food. It is up to the company bringing in items from China (to determine) that those items are safe."
Weese believes consumers also need to play a role in import safety and advises them to read product labels. Not all labels, however, disclose the country of origin, she said.
"A whole bunch of other products are being brought in and sold under our labels," she said. "That happens more and more because labor is so cheap, especially in China."
The only ways to know without a doubt where food comes from, according to Weese, is to either grow it or buy it from a farmer's market.
"Everything we ate, we grew," Weese said of her own childhood. "Now that's not the case. You get food at the grocery store and don't know where it comes from."
Sparks thinks the White House recognizes the importance of accountability, particularly on the part of the country of origin.
"We've got to put some of the responsibility on the people who are sending it to us," he said. "There ought to be drastic measures taken at that time if they aren't."
Unlike Sparks, Weese doesn't believe that importing nations will be as aggressive on safety as the American consumers and the government want.
"We're hoping that other countries' standards will meet our expectations and our U.S. standards," she said.
Sparks vows he will remain aggressive in protecting Alabamians from unsafe imports of all types, especially food, and from all countries.
"Folks in Alabama don't want to eat that garbage," he said. "And as long as I'm commissioner, I'm going to catch it at the door and send it back."
montgomeryadvertiser.com