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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Is nothing sacred to China?





I realized I was fixating with 3-4 posts in as many weeks on Chinese business practices so I layed off for a while but in the last several weeks there have been so many new scandals that I can’t hold back any longer.

First there was the Mattel recall and then another Mattel recall,
Then some quarter of a million unsafe tires had to be called back
Today I find two more stories, unsafe baby bids which have excessive lead levels, gee no chance of a bib getting in contact with a babies mouth is there?

In the second story Chinese entrepreneurs think it’s OK to package cheap white wine from concentrate and labeling it as ice-wine. It’s neither VQA as required, it’s not even necessarily Canadian grape juice and it sure as hell is not made from frozen fruit as one manufacturer admits its concentrate and “pure water”. There isn’t any water added to make ice-wine. High end fake booze with names like Chivas Regal are commonly sold to a knowing and accepting public more concerned about prestige than quality, safety or legality

Is nothing sacred to China? I mean its one thing to fake a Prada purse but to mess with a peoples libations is more than criminal.

Where is our Government in all this, ignoring the issue and failing to support businesses trapped in prolonged legal battles with Chinese crooks.Recommend this Post

2 comments:

Val said...

I've tried for the last couple of years to avoid buying products made in China (or other countries with dubious labour and environmental standards) and I'm to the point where I have nothing left to wear. I come away from a day of shopping feeling very dusty and needing a shower.

I've always been puzzled how it could possibly be cheaper to produce something half a world away and ship it here than to create it here from our own raw materials and with our own labour.

Check out: A Year Without "Made in China" by Sara Bongiorni. I haven't read it yet but it looks really cool.

--V

PS I have my own blog now. I feel sooo cool.

Anonymous said...

For the time being cheap labour and low gov intervention out weighs energy cost, this will end eventually and we will be stuck with no ability to make our own things. We are screwing oursleves long term for the short term accumulation of often unneeded crap.

I'm dying to find someone who makes domestic hemp jeans. They would last 2-3 longer, avoid cotton one of the most thirsty and pesticide ridden crops , and create long term domestic jobs.

It's very frustrating to be the grump of the family who constantly says "we don't need that" while the two angry midgets are jumping up and down and pleading for things. Trying to consume less China content means simply consuming less of everything.

Thank goodness beer is domestic so I can at least drown my sorrows without more guilt.