Toxic Toys Topple Tiny Tots and Trendy Teens

China: Lead Toxins Take a Global Round Trip

The article by Fairclough takes over from last weeks readings sighting poor conditions and laws in China as part of the blame for toxic materials in Chinese exports. However, Fairclough sights another problem as even more cause for concern. That problem is e-waste recycling from the U.S.

There is a global issue at hand in which a cycle causes China to manufacture items with lead, the U.S. to send the recycled remnants of such products back to China, and China to reuse their materials in new items destined to be shipped back to the U.S. all over again.

Jewelry is a huge export from China, making up 70% of the $4.5 billion industry and 6.7 billion pieces of such exports were recalled in 2007. This is huge both for China and the U.S. This means a great deal of U.S. imports are toxic and China is paying the price for recalling them.

Another item caught in this mess is e-waste, such as computers and cell phones. 50 millions tons of the stuff is tossed every year in the U.S. and sent back to China to be reused. Much of the materials are put into new electronics, the jewelry mentioned above, and toys while much of it is simply dumped in various places in China. This means more poisoning in exports and poisoning of the Chinese environment. None of this cycle is regulated by the U.S. or Chinese environmental protection bureaus. Both China and the U.S. stand to lose health and environment battles in this case.

Why is lead so bad? It causes brain damage and death from exposure or, more harmfully, from ingestion. This harms U.S. children, teens, and others who use the goods and also harms the workers that make them. The lack of labor laws in China allow workers to touch and inhale toxins from the materials as they manufacture them into products. Again, China and U.S. citizens are putting their health at risk and increasing medicals costs when resulting conditions need to be treated.

Ok, another question. Why is this being allowed to happen? The answer is, as usual, money. Lead alloy is way cheaper than other materials, more abundant, and more pliable. U.S. and other major customers of China want the lowest cost.

'It's too costly to make lead-free products,' says owner Wang Quijuan. 'Chinese products have to be sold cheaply in foreign markets, or they are not competitve.'

It's clear, here, that the blame is to, like labor issues, be blamed on foreign companies for pressuring China to be too cheap. I can see it that way but China should also be taking care of its products and its people.

Is there another way? Yes. Many companies claim to offer their customers the choice of lead-free products but most decline because of the cost. Then, companies fight back saying they are not aware of the lead content in the products they contract from Chinese factories. Who's right and who's not?

So, the last question for now... What can and is being done about it? The U.S. has decided to begin researching the global scope of the lead poisoning problem but this is no easy task. For now, consumers simply need to be informed that, while recycling is good in most cases, it may be putting more chemicals back into both China and the U.S. than once thought. Oh bother.