Our eight-point plan to police hazardous imports

Today, Don Mays, the Senior Director of Product Safety Planning for Consumers Union, gave testimony on the safety of consumer products and food imported from China before the U.S. Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation. His testimony unveiled an eight-step plan of action to protect consumers from hazardous imports. "We believe the responsibility for safety has to be firmly attached to each link in the supply chain," Mays said.

At almost the same time that Mays was testifying, the White House announced the creation of an Import Safety Working Group, to be headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt; other members of the group will include the secretaries of state, agriculture, commerce, transportation, treasury and homeland security, as well as the heads of the Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Product Safety Commission. While raising the oversight process to a cabinet-level role may be a good step, we still believe strengthening existing agencies, including the FDA and CPSC, is vital.   

Consumers Union urges more coordination among government agencies as well as better tools and more resources to keep up with the growing number of imports. To accomplish that, CU recommended these eight points of action:

1. Provide increased resources to government safety agencies to prevent unsafe products from crossing our borders.
2. Prompt the need for pre-shipment inspection and testing by holding importers, distributors, and retailers accountable for bringing unsafe products to the market. 
3. Develop U.S. government-administered third-party safety certification programs.
4. Develop a product traceability program for country-of-origin labeling for food, drugs, and cosmetics, as well as other consumer products.
5. Require that importers post a safety bond to ensure they have the resources to recall products if required.
6. Give all agencies the power to levy meaningful civil penalties for companies who fail to comply with regulations; and criminal penalties for those who knowingly or repeatedly jeopardize public safety.
7. Authorize mandatory recall authority for all government agencies.
8. Require all government agencies to publicly disclose information pertaining to safety investigation and reports of adverse events.

Today’s committee meeting was characterized as a "listening session" and we hope the members indeed pay heed.

See also:

• Executive Order: Establishing An Interagency Working Group on Import Safety
• U.S. Senate hearing - Safety of Chinese Imports: Oversight and Analysis of the Federal Response
• Can you trust Chinese-made products?
• Tainted animal feed: Why the government's approach isn't working
• Toothpaste trouble: what you need to know now
• Thomas & Friends recall: 1.5 million trains and accessories for lead
• CR Survey: Consumers want country-of-origin labeling
• FDA warning on Chinese fish highlights problems with inspections

Comments

[Pat R.]

What kind of birdbrain mentality justifies the economics of low wages while consuming tainted products?

This isn't economics; it's glorified suicide.

Didn't Jim Jones preach the same delusions of his cult through which we awakened to their mass suicide.

Just because it sounds good doesn't mean it is good.
Didn't everyone think America was smarter than to subject millions to high risk for the sake of a few profits?

Surprise! isn't the terminology that fits, nor are the excuses or promises to do better.

When smart people do dumb things, questioning their intention isn't adequate for self defense.

Self defense has always been one of the key foundations and reasons for the Constitution to begin with. It isn't about wants; it's about needs and priorities.

[Warning!]

There are more US importers of Chinese toys other that Mattel that have had serious safety and quality issues in the recent past and into the present. Smaller companys like SCHYLLING TOYS has had lead paint, choking hazard, and other problems with magnetic toys as well!

Don't be fooled by US toy companies...they well know the quality and risks invovled in the importing of toys from a nation who knows no limitations on it's inability to provide safe products for US children. To define the Chinese factorys as SUBSTANDARD isn't even coming close to the actual conditions of these places.

Toy companys continue to do business in China and mask or hope to avoid the issues with safety and quality so they can protect the high level of profit when manufacturing in China.

[Louise]

I have not shopped at a Wal-mart in many years simply because of their huge connection with products from China. Aside from supporting the chinese militia by buying their products, we are financing the growth of a government that has no problem killing its citizens just to set an exmaple for others. Another disturbing issue is how chinese factories are seriously polluting the environment. Why aren't these stories being told and why don't more Americans care?

[keith lumpkin]

made in america. should be what in the label of everyones cloths, but the textile mills and factories dont put enough money in polititions and ceo's pockets, so they will keep shutting down resourses here to buy elsewhere. as long walmart and other outlets buy the cheapest, we will continue to buy the crap

[Martha Harbison]

Just because an item's label states that the product was "Made in USA" doesn't guarantee that some of the ingredients did not come from China or elsewhere. We need to know!

[JJ]

Maybe this is an issue that should be addressed to the candidates that are running for President. 1. Why are we not strongly monitoring what is imported from China? 2. What would you do to protect the citizens of the United States from dangerous products from China? 3. Why is it that we have such an unequal import, export business with China. 4. What are you going to do about it when you become President?
We should insist that they answer the questions and not ignore them.
This is the perfect opportunity to address these issues with China because they do not want to run the risk of having the Olympics boycotted.
I also think that we should be able to make the decision on whether or not we want to buy "Made in China." Posting the country of origin on the lable of all products should be mandatory.

[Janie]

I tried to buy a pair of walking shoes at a national sports franchise and after questioning the clerk who had the manager look there was only 1(ONE) brand of walking shoe made in the USA.Everything else was Made In China. Until we start asking and demanding this we will never get away from China made merchandise.In my case the clerks and manger both said they had never even been asked that question before. We must inform people somehow.

[J Bohan]

All manufactured goods are supposed to be labeled with the country of origin. I always thought food had to meet the same labeling requirements. What we really need is each food ingredient to be identified as "USA origin" or "imported from (country)". I was very upset to find "product of China" on organic frozen vegetables from Whole Foods Market, a high end store! I returned the product and will be much more vigilant. On the plus side, the product was labeled.

[Robert Koch]

Hey people, a good bit of our money it printed OVER SEAS because its cheaper. Now if the goverment is allowing that to be done, what makes you think that they care about problems that some of us are having?

If you want more done, get people to go out and VOTE!!!!!!! Vote in people who WILL listen, and take action when, and where needed.

We need to do a lot more stuff here in the US. We have some very good AMERICAN citizens here that I am sure would love to work providing for thier own.

[Michael Greis]

I just don't understand why our country doesn't provide for our own citizens better! Ofcourse, the products from China are much cheaper! The workers are, more or less, ordered to do their jobs. In some cases chained to a machine. And in some cases murdered if they refuse. Unions? No such thing in China. Cheaper pruducts? Absolutely! But the quality isn't there, and sometimes the products are just down right dangerous! But our country imports all of their products, becuase they're a big wealthy country with much influence. I wonder how much our products are tariffed exporting to them?

[Linda Kraus]

Thank you to all who are protesting this dispicable situation. Let's keep on this so that labeling is reliable, inspecting and testing are occuring before anything is allowed into this country and we are getting safe products and reliable information.

[Virginia Shisler]

What made USA a great nation is that we were totally selfsufficient. We imported very little. We need to bring manufacturing of goods & services back to the USA. We need to stop rewarding Big Business for moving their manufacturing overseas to places like China and other countries and bring it back to the USA. We NEED "MADE IN AMERICA" back on our goods. Goods from other countries are substandard.

You in Washington - If you think that the tainted pet food and toothpaste was a harmless mistake, you need a Brain Adjustsment. Wake-up Washington - It's just the start. We NEED to bring Manufacturing Home. WE NEED TO AGAIN BE A SELF-SUFFICIENT COUNTRY. HOW DO YOU THINK WE SURVIVED WORLD WAR II. If we did not have the manufacturing in place here things would have been much worse for the American people during that time. It's a disgrace, even some of our military equipment is made overseas as well as parts for the majority of our electronics and cars. WE NEED TO STOP DEPENDING ON OVERSEAS GOODS & SERVICES. WASHINGTON - BRING IT ALL HOME.
It would be good for the USA, and all it's citizens.

[Sue]

Hardly anything is made here in America now. A local company here just announced that they are closing and starting up production in China. I was looking for a mouse for my computer and looking for origin on packaging. Found one that had French instructions so I thought at least not China but it WAS from China. Free trade has kind of backfired. It was set up to allow goods to be shipped back and forth with no tarif. Instead all of the American companies have shipped their production lines out and sending the crap back in to sell to the unemployed or underpaid Americans. How is this FREE TRADE?

[Annette R. Carruthers]

I want to know where all my food comes from, not just who the distributor is. Let me make the decision for myself

[Chuck]

Helloo -- when have Chinese imports ever been worth anything? We only have imports from China because they're cheap, and we get what we pay for. China sends us crap that lasts, unless it's food, just long enough to fulfill the guarantee, if there is one, and then goes to the landfill with the rest of the crap from China. In the name of Profit for our companies, we now do not make anything ourselves, and when we forget how we used to do it, will be easy prey for a takeover by the Chinese when they tire of financing the USA's wars.

[Dana Lee]

Contaminated products, either imported or produced domestically must be stopped. Chemicals we touch, foods we eat, vehicles and tools we use are all potentially poisonous.

All finished products and all their components must be labeled with country of origin for our safty.

Mass distributers like CVS and producers must be held accountable. Johnson & Johnsons' baby shampoo does not label the bottle with origin or percentage of chemical components or where mixed. Bottle only states Johnson & Johnson: distributer. CVS Baby shampoo bottle label: Not made by Johnson & Johnson. Distributed by CVS.

We cannot assume product is "American" and thus safe. Laws with fines exceeding potential profits from dangerous "cost savings" must be levied AND collected from the offending companies. Strong, enforceable sanctions are required.

[Truett Neathery]

If you want to know more about the path China is on, get the book entitled "MAO" - by Jung Chang - it spells out China's destiny to control much more than Asia, Mao charted this path in the 1920s, and we are aiding them today by our purchases of cheap junk paid for with our dollars and invested in our foreign debt instruments.

[Lloyd]

Ross Perot may have been a fruitcake on some things, but he got one thing right. He said that with NAFTA there would be a great sucking sound of jobs leaving America. Imports and outsourcing have increased geometrically.

Maybe the Chineese product fiasco is a payback for our greed for cheap products no matter what ghetto makes them.

[RCarter]

I too will no longer knowingly purchase anything made in China. It is for two reasons: product safety and I also don't want to add to the US negative balance of trade with China. In addition when I lived in Pittsburgh I long ago stopped buying any seafood imported from Asia. I now live in South Carolina and am very conscious of our local fishermen and shrimpers and believe we should support them. Besides the food is tastier and fresher! I also believe in buying local (within 100 miles) as much as possible.

[Jess Allen]

It is my understanding that laws making it mandatory that all imported merchandise show the country of origin are already on the books but Wal-Mart and one other big retailer have persuaded the powers that be to refrain from enforcing them! As it stands it is impossible to determine the origin of everything we buy-a sad state of affairs.

[Esther Ochoa]

I want everything that is imported to be labeled as to origin and taxed when they come in to USA.

[S G Thomas]

I buy NOTHING from China!!! That's the word I'm passing around. If we stop buying, our government will have to make the proper changes.

[Wallace Stuart]

Since the Chinese government's brutal crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, I have shopped as carefully as possible to avoid buying products made in mainland (Peoples Republic of) China and other countries which have despotic governments. While my son tells me that it makes god economic sense to buy the best goods on the market at the lowest price (regardless of the products' country of manufacture), I have other values that involve fostering human rights and taking pocket-book actions which in some microscopic way contribute to those values. The other issue with China is our tight trade relationship with this regime & its banks. Our trade is out of balance to a degree we are very indebted to the mainland Chinese. Is our consumer prosperity so important to us that we can pay no attention to the potentially dangerous position in which we are putting ourselves? We are financing our future through the good graces of a foreign government that denies its citizens any political freedoms and doesn't respect the human rights of its people? I am one American person who doesn't buy into this risky trade off.

As for mainland China, tainted food, and defective products: This is a case where all commodities need oversight for quality, regardless of their source. Tainted food and defective products can come from anyplace including the United States and our home communities. Manufacturers need to maintain quality control to stay in business. However, the US and state governments play a vital role in protecting consumers from dangerous products that get out on the market. As citizens we need to speak up for and support budgets that permit our government agencies to be effective in these product monitoring and communication services.

One good way to get early warning of recalls and market withdrawals of dangerous products is to subscribe to emailings from the US government agencies charged with protecting consumers. Go to the web sites of the following agencies and sign up to receive their recall notices: US Department of Agriculture (Food Safety and Inspection Service), US Food and Drug Administration, and US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

[Ken West]

I have seen several news reports that indicated that our free trade agreements (NAFTA, etc.) require that we accept a countries food safety policies as equivalent to ours. Otherwise, they can take us to international court for violating the agreement. Needless to say, inspection programs that let Melamine into our food monstrously inadequate, no matter what the trade agreements say.

I have also seen several reports that the FDA and department of agriculture are so understaffed that they are inspecting a tiny fraction of the products they should. It sounds like pure luck no one has died from US products as well.

Oh well, at least I can quit worrying about where my food comes from, it all looks scary. Of course, that stuff imported from Europe in the international foods aisle is beginning to look pretty tasty.

Personally, it looks like turning my backyard into a safe food garden or making really good friends with an organic farmer may be the only way to stay alive and well.

I am sure glad the tax breaks and globalization are working out so well.

[Carol B]

We pay our farmers NOT to plant their fields and then turn around and purchase our food and grain from other countries, where standards, if they have any at all, for producing safe food products is much, much lower than ours? What's up with that? Our government needs to start doing its job and take care of the citizens that elected them. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should enter this country that is not thoroughly checked out to make sure that it is safe. Made in America should be the rule, NOT the exception. I am thrilled when I pick something up that says MADE IN AMERICA, that tells me an American has a job making that product for me and I am proud to buy it. I too agree that all products should bear a label stating its origin. We also need to stop sending billions and billons of dollars to other countries when people here in America are jobless, homeless and without decent medical care and coverage. When no child is hungry and no senior citizen is without medical care, then maybe, just maybe we can help others. But until that time, we need to keep our money here where it belongs and take care of our own. What has happened to the greatest country in the world? It makes me so sad.