Today China is on center stage as hosts of the Olympics.
Woo hoo! (guess sarcasm doesn't come across well in print)
Why China?
The only things I know about China are:
- Kung-Po Chicken is a bit spicy (and really good!).
- Using chopsticks takes a lot of practice.
- There's lots of smog
- There's lots of lead.
- China likes to share (the smog and lead, that is)
The smog will be shared with all of the athletes that are going there. The lead, though, they have to ship out.
It was not to long ago that toys were being recalled left and right for elevated lead content, remember?
I recall (no pun intended) going through my son's things looking for the "Made in China" stamp and comparing those items to various news reports and distributors lists to see if they were leaded or unleaded. Luckily, the items that were tainted were things he had grown out of (Thomas the Train). It was a pretty hectic time trying to keep up with it all, nonetheless.
Until I found a quick and easy solution.
The CPSC.
Our good ole watchdogs were sending all the information available to everyone who asked. So, I asked.
Currently, I get a couple emails a week. Each email usually has one or two recalls, but I have seen up to six in one email. If you'd like to get the scoop see http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx . You can select what types of recalls you want to receive (children's items, sporting goods, household products, etc).
It's pretty simple (and free) to sign up. I also forward the emails I get (all recall info) to clients and anyone who asks. Rick's Recall Notices .
Wonder if the Gold Medals have too much lead? I guess we'll know soon enough!
Nice post Rick! Yeah, my wife and I had to make a trip to Toys-R-Us a few times to get credit for a bunch of toys. My daughter hadn't yet grown out of the countless Dora toys that she had and loved. We had to take most of them away and buy a bunch of new toys to replace them with. What a pain in the butt. Toys-R-Us was great though, no questions asked, they just gave us credit for all of them.
Rick, great post here. I am sure that China will have tons of recalls.
China does have recalls. The other day they had to recall a load of lead paint. There where toys in the paint. :D ;)
Thanks for the invite, Rick. Looking forward to your new blog.