Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press exposed yet another disturbing Chinese trade secret when it reported that some manufacturers in China are making children’s jewelry with the highly toxic metal cadmium. Children’s jewelry now joins the growing list of dangerous and sometimes deadly products pouring into the United States from China – a list that includes toys covered with lead paint, pet food and baby formula tainted with melamine, sulfuric drywall that has ruined thousands of homes, and other poorly made or defective merchandise.

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is pulling items of children’s jewelry known or suspected to be manufactured with high levels of toxic cadmium from store shelves. The move follows an Associated Press investigation published earlier this week which found some China-based manufacturers were creating children’s jewelry with varying amounts of cadmium — a heavy medal considered by the federal government to be one of the most toxic substances on earth.

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Yoshi Inaba, Toyota’s highest ranking executive in the United States, says that his company’s latest recall of millions of vehicles has taught Toyota some valuable lessons. Speaking to an audience gathered at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Inaba seemed eager to hit the re-set button with the American public through admission of Toyota’s past errors.

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On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s priority list of the 275 most toxic substances in the environment, the heavy metal cadmium is ranked seventh. Unfortunately, in an investigative report, the Associated Press found that cadmium is being used in large quantities to make children’s jewelry and other products that are sold in the United States. The country of origin for almost all of these products is China.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved a new rule this week that establishes guidelines and requirements for mandatory recall notices. While nearly every recall announced by the CPSC is conducted with the voluntary cooperation of the manufacturer (every one of last year’s product recalls was voluntary), forced, mandatory recalls are sometimes necessary when the manufacturer is either unwilling or unable to participate in the voluntary recall effort.

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While most safety recalls involve products with defects that may cause direct physical harm to consumers, this week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of books that give bad advice and may cause consumers to hurt themselves.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced yesterday that RC2 Corp. of Oak Brook, Illinois has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civic penalty for importing toys to the United States that violated the federal lead paint ban. RC2 is the importer and seller of Thomas & Friends ™ Wooden Railway toys.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission unanimously approved a new rule that will require manufacturers of “durable” infant and toddler products to establish a product registration program. The Commission approved the new measure on December 16, 2009.

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Toys, children’s furniture, clothing, home appliances, power tools, sports equipment – these are just some of the many products that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls every year to protect consumers from using potentially dangerous and life-threatening items. But while the CPSC’s safety alerts notify the public of recalls involving new and recently made products, millions of older, defective, once-recalled or banned products find their way into thrift stores every year.

In fact, the CPSC says that 7 out of every 10 thrift stores sell products that pose the risk of injury and death. If hazards abound in second-hand stores, what is the CPSC doing to improve public safety? And what can consumers do to protect themselves?

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Toys with lead paint, contaminated food, toxic drywall, defective all-terrain vehicles – these are just some of the Chinese exports that have spawned massive safety recalls and personal injury lawsuits in the last couple of years. In 2007, made-in-China products accounted for more than 82% of all U.S. consumer product recalls. Assuming that U.S.-China trade relations remain normal, what will the future of the American marketplace look like in 5 or 10 years? Will it be rife with all sorts of defective and dangerous imports or will Chinese manufacturers eventually embrace what it means to make a “quality” product?

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