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This story is actually a couple of days old but I wanted to write about it because it portrays a bureaucratic mindset that we would have to deal with if health care reform passes. The Bush era Congress passed the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act" in August of 2008. It was, as most legislation, an overreaction to the Chinese toy scare. It was designed to "require extensive testing of any toy, book, or item of clothing intended for kids under the age of 12." But ambitious bureaucrats have taken the bill and interpreted it to mean "used" toys as well....

U.S. manufacturer recalls 1.59 million cribs By Elinor Comlay Mon Oct 20, 10:14 pm ET NEW YORK (Reuters) – Delta Enterprises recalled almost 1.6 million cribs, made in China, Indonesia and Taiwan, on Monday after it said two babies died. The company did not provide any details on the deaths of the two infants and declined to answer any questions. The family-owned company that sells cribs, strollers and other products for babies, said the recalled cribs were no longer available in stores. The New York-based company said it contacted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and was arranging to provide...

Kerosene company has new Web site with recall infoTuesday, September 09, 2008 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Terminals Corp. announced today it has established a new Web site (www.kerosenerecall.com) to provide customers with up-to-date information about the company's recall of kerosene sold between May 1 and Aug. 19 in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, southwestern New York and northern West Virginia. All kerosene sold during that time is being recalled because it may be contaminated with gasoline, creating a risk of fire, explosion and serious injury. "We've had a steady return of kerosene since the recall began, but we are still very concerned...

First the tainted milk, now toxic chairs? Recliners made by the Dongguan-based company Linkwise are causing cases of eczema, stinging allergic rashes and infections among French customers who bought them. The problems were traced to the use of the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, which is used to prevent mould and fungus on the chairs. The French distributor Conforama has since severed its business ties with Linkwise and told its suppliers to stop all use of the chemical. Out of the 38,000 Linkwise chairs it sold, it says customers have returned about 800 so far. A rash of cases has also cropped...

BEIJING: Hong Kong has ordered the recall of a Chinese company's products after milk, ice cream and yogurt were found to be contaminated with melamine, the compound responsible for killing four children in a health scandal. Tainted milk powder produced in China has made thousands ill, and triggered sackings and detentions and rocked public trust already battered by a litany of food safety scares involving tainted eggs, pork and seafood in recent years. Now the scandal has spread to milk, ice-cream and yogurt ice-bars. Hong Kong ordered the recall of a Chinese company's products on Thursday after tests found that...

Tests suggest gyoza contaminated in China The Yomiuri Shimbun Following a police examination of packs of six frozen gyoza returned from a shop in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, police are increasingly of the opinion that the Chinese-made frozen gyoza dumplings were contaminated with a pesticide, methamidophos, in China, according to sources. Meanwhile, Japan Tobacco Inc., the parent company of Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo-based JT Foods Co., which imported the products, spoke Monday about the operations at the Tianyang Food Processing factory in Hebei Province, China. "Using a process of elimination we came to the natural conclusion the products were contaminated with the...

China, US product safety friction to last years: US health chief Wed Dec 12, 12:33 PM ET It will take years of unprecedented collaboration for China and the United States to resolve distrust over the safety of each other's products, a top US official said Wednesday. US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said an agreement signed a day earlier to increase oversight of Chinese manufacturers was just the beginning of a new era of necessary cooperation between the economic giants. "We are at the beginning stage," Leavitt said. "To quote a Chinese saying, 'a man who would move...

Mandelson says China’s reputation at risk By Reuters November 26 The top EU trade official told China on Monday its reputation was at risk after a series of product safety scandals and that it must do more to tackle the problem. The comments drew an icy response from a senior Chinese minister. Peter Mandelson, European Union trade commissioner, told a meeting on food safety in Beijing that a rash of recalls of toys, toothpaste and other consumer goods had shaken global confidence in China’s exports. Beijing had to clamp down on defective goods to restore buyers’ confidence. “While product safety...

Beyond food and toys, China struggles with its global reputation From climate change to Darfur, public opinion polls reveal a global unease with the growing superpower. By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Beijing As China prepares to celebrate its emergence as a global power at next year's Olympic Games, a rash of recent American and international opinion polls suggest that the Asian giant faces an uphill battle to convince the world it is worthy of its new status. And it is more than just a question of food or toys. Beijing's task is made harder,...

B&F System Inc. Recalls Emergency Tool Kits Due to Fire and Shock Hazards WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: Emergency Tool Kits Units: About 43,000 Distributor: B&F System Inc., of Dallas, Texas Hazard: Booster cables in the recalled kits can have undersized wiring and inadequate connections, posing a fire and shock hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: None reported. Description: The recalled emergency tool kits have booster cables in...

Counterfeit prescription drugs are a $35 billion-a-year business, and it's growing; by some estimates, 50 percent of prescription drugs in Africa, including those used to treat AIDS and malaria, are fake. Americans have long considered themselves immune, but a huge proportion of the prescription medications and devices used in the United States are now manufactured overseas, and the risks are escalating for Americans, too. It's no surprise; last year alone Americans spent $275 billion on their prescriptions. Consider: • Last fall, counterfeit diabetes test strips from China flooded the U.S. market. The fake blood glucose monitoring strips first came to...

(BEIJING) - An official in southern China criticized colleagues for skipping out on product safety conference as the country fights to clean up its recurring quality problems, a newspaper said Tuesday. Cao Jianliao, vice mayor of Guangzhou, complained that district heads sent low-level staffers to represent them at a local convention on product quality held Monday, the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily said. "From this we can see that the districts' government leaders aren't taking food safety seriously," Cao was quoted as saying. "If the district leaders aren't serious about it, then how can you ask people on the streets and...

China's massive export industry has provided ginger contaminated with a pesticide, fish food raised in untreated sewage and toothpaste containing a solvent – and now children's clothing containing the poison formaldehyde. According to a report in the Auckland, New Zealand, Sunday Star Times, an investigative team from the city's TV3 Target program has detailed how scientists found formaldehyde, a chemical preservative, in wool and cotton clothing at levels hundreds of times higher than levels considered safe. The chemical has been used as an embalming fluid and in clothing to preserve a "permanent press." It also has been used over the...

China TV airs shows defending products By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 20, 6:32 PM ET China has launched a new campaign to restore international trust in its products with a weeklong television series defending the country's safety standards. But new allegations of unsafe Chinese goods emerged Monday when New Zealand said it was investigating children's clothing found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde. The chemical is used to give clothes a permanent press effect and also as an embalming fluid and it can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer. The new television campaign titled "Believe...