I sent my wife this Reuters article about a recall on some wooden “Thomas and Friends” toys this morning because the children of some friends of our plays with them. Steven Taylor, though, noted something more within the rubric of the blog, though, deeper into the piece:
The recall of toys made in China follows a series of health scandals in the United States involving food, drugs and other products imported from China, from poisoned cough syrup to tainted toothpaste and pet food.
It’s a worrisome trend, indeed. I had missed the news of tainted toothpaste and cough syrup but the pet food scandal has certainly garnered international attention. As Steven observes,
For all the talk of China becoming an economic superpower, they are going to face a tough road if people are going to start associating “Made in China” with “Made with Poison.”
Quite.
The irony is that China has managed to combine the worst elements of capitalism with the worst elements of Communism: a repressive regime that provides no safety regulation. The demands of the global marketplace will force them to change, at least on the latter front, over time. People want cheap goods and most of us will overlook human rights abuses in the countries providing them. We won’t accept unsafe products, however.
