Health

Chinese toys will become subject to strict regulation
by Corina Ciubotaru

The scandal involving toys tainted with lead paint is taking bigger proportions every day. After Mattel recalled 21 million toys during one month because of considerable amounts of lead in the paint and little magnets that children could swallow, Toys "R" Us started doing its own inspections on its merchandise, using a special lab starting this week. It will do spot checks on the products to make sure the toys aren't a health risk to young children. Disney is also getting more involved, as the company risks losing its credibility. Even though only 3% of their income is from toy sales, Disney wants to make sure their branded toys are safe and enjoyable, so it will hire independent companies to check various toys. In the meantime, Chinese officials agreed to take the lead out of the toys manufactured in their country and enforce strict quality controls in companies, while requiring the U.S. importer an "export registration". Also, the agreement between the two countries requires more efficient communication between exporters and importers, and better prices from the importers to prevent Chinese companies from using low-quality materials in their toys. The United States are the biggest importer of Chinese toys, followed by the rest of Asia and Europe so this agreement comes as something that should have been done sooner. As China imports exceed even Canadian ones, maybe more agreements like this should be enforced for a variety of products, to make sure the health of Americans is in no way at risk.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070910/ap_on_bi_ge/toy_safety_disney;_ylt=AgiB16NYvn_o8e7jyMUwzYas0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 4:31 PM