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DEADLY CHINESE IMPORTS – ON HOLIDAY SHELVES?
DOWNLOAD: BUYER’S REMORSE REPORT
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‘Buyer’s Remorse’ details continuing government inaction in the face of a tsunami of unsafe Chinese products.
Washington DC, December 13, 2007. - Lurking on the shelves this holiday season are a record number of Chinese-made toys and other gifts – in a year marked by lead-tainted toy trains, dolls coated with date-rape drugs, and a record number of other defective Chinese goods.
Is the federal government doing all it can to protect American consumers this holiday season?
Not according to a report published today by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM).
“Buyer’s Remorse: How America has Failed to see the Threat posed by Dangerous Chinese Goods and the Case for Safe Trade,” is written by best-selling author and former Wall Street Journal editorial page writer Richard Miniter. It documents the dangers posed by unsafe Chinese imports and outlines steps that the government should take to keep Americans safe this holiday season.
According to Miniter, the Bush Administration and federal regulators have failed to step up enforcement and to reform rules that were written decades ago. “Policymakers in Washington are stymied by the ongoing debate between the so called ‘free traders’ and ‘protectionists’ and are unable to develop practical solutions,” Miniter said.
“It would take only one bad case—say a contaminated Christmas toy—to harm a child, trigger a lawsuit, force a massive recall, and devastate a company’s reputation.” Miniter said. “In a worse case scenario, such an incident could cost thousands of Americans their lives –an accidental 9-11.”
In 2007, thousands of American pets died from adulterated Chinese-made pet food and Children were exposed to potentially toxic toys made in China.
Nearly every item on holiday lists is made or partly made in China. Twenty percent of consumer goods sold in the U.S. in 2006 were made in China, according to the AAM report - a 400% increase since 1997.
“Buyer’s Remorse” finds that scores of Chinese suppliers knowingly adulterate their products with cheap, unsafe ingredients, while Chinese officials deny wrongdoing.
In his report, Miniter argues that there is a solution—“Safe Trade.” Safe Trade re-focuses regulators on the next threat, and by moving “beyond the false choice between unfettered free trade or no trade, it focuses on the health and safety of consumers, and if implemented could prevent death and injury.”
A copy of the executive summary and full report are available at www.americanmanufacturing.org or by contacting Steven Capozzola at 202-393-3430, scapozzola@aamfg.org.
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The Alliance for American Manufacturing is a unique non-partisan, non-profit partnership forged to strengthen manufacturing in the U.S. AAM brings together a select group of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers to promote creative policy solutions on priorities such as international trade, energy security, health care, retirement security, currency manipulation, and other issues of mutual concern. For more information: www.americanmanufacturing.org.
