http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090115/cm_csm/ywilson
Due to the Chinese paint scare a new law may close down many small toy companies.
Of course, this may impact those who make and import trains.
Ralph
Will this affect those adults that are really big kids?
TonyWalsham said:Only if you chew on your trains!
Will this affect those adults that are really big kids?
Typical gov’ment over reaction…someone craps themselves and everyone has to wear a diaper…
Having a small child, who still likes to chew on the stuff she plays with, I’m less casual about it than you are, and more concerned. I’d like to find a way to get the chinese to stop using so much lead based paint. I can’t test every toy, nor can I watch her all the time. It’s nearly impossible to find toys made anywhere other than china. What do you suggest?
I could say “that lead stuff, that’s all a bunch of liberal crap.” I’d have to ignore medical evidence, but I could simply argue that “all the medical evidence is crap, science is just driven by the desire for grants and publicity etc.” But of course it’s not me I’m worried about, it’s my daughter, and why take a chance?
So what do you recommend, Ken? I mean, what’s the libertarian solution here? I could refuse to buy toys altogether, or refuse to allow her to get presents from other people, or buy only toys made in places where I can certify they don’t use lead. Oh wait, there are no such places!
Seems like government action is an imperfect but reasonable solution
Also please not the source of the article–the author
“Rob Wilson is vice president of Challenge & Fun, an importer of natural toys from Europe.”
No agenda there, I’m sure
My guess is there is another side to this–there always is
You won’t have to worry about it too much longer…once the law is in effect, there won’t be any toys to chew on…
Well, Mike, you are old enough to have played with toys that had lead in the paint, and you turned out ok.
Oh, wait, I forgot, you are a “progressive.”
Hmmmm. Maybe there really is a problem. :lol: 
:lol:
mike omalley said:
Also please not the source of the article--the author“Rob Wilson is vice president of Challenge & Fun, an importer of natural toys from Europe.”
No agenda there, I’m sure
My guess is there is another side to this–there always is
Sure,
Someone in the toy business has a vested interest.
However, if not for his interest, many people would be unaware of the law.
I’m all for saftey. But this law could very well close many cottage toy makers that began business because of the lead problem in Chinese toys.
What we are going to see is a bunch of toys, including trains, labeled “This is not a toy. Not for use by those under 18 years of age”
Ralph
I was thinking about making some wooden toy trains.
Guess I’ll shelve that idea, for now.
Ralph Berg said:mike omalley said:
Also please not the source of the article--the author“Rob Wilson is vice president of Challenge & Fun, an importer of natural toys from Europe.”
No agenda there, I’m sure
My guess is there is another side to this–there always is
I’m all for saftey. But this law could very well close many cottage toy makers that began business because of the lead problem in Chinese toys.
What we are going to see is a bunch of toys, including trains, labeled “This is not a toy. Not for use by those under 18 years of age”
Ralph
Maybe–so this guy says. Most of the toy factories in China, apparently, are small. Just because a company is small does not mean its products are safe. Any regulation will be denounced by some business somewhere: it’s a constant refrain. I’d want to see the arguments in favor of the law in question before jumping to this guy’s conclusion.
Notice this:
“The law has been interpreted to require existing inventories of children’s products across the country to undergo expensive testing to certify compliance with the new lead standards, even in cases where there is no scientific basis for lead to be a danger; products that cannot be proved to be in compliance must be destroyed.”
Ok, “interpreted” by who? By him? I’d like to see an actual example of this “interpretation.”
And then there’s this: “even in cases where there is no scientific basis for lead to be a danger.” Hmmm–what’s he mean by that? “No scientific basis”–that’s an interesting phrase. Didn’t we just have a big thread where some people insisted there was no scientific basis for global warming, and others insisted their was? So that makes me wonder a little.
And then think about it–you want to ban lead, and you’re the federal government, and guys like Steve are constantly denouncing you for wasting money. You want to get lead out of toys. You could pas a bill that sent federal inspectors to every factory, at taxpayer expense. Or you could just–band lead. Cheaper for taxpayers, maybe more expensive for toy makers.
This guy may in fact be right. I’m just not ready to jump on the “govt. is bad” bandwagon because a guy in the toy biz says the regulation is bad for him. Even if it’s true, if it’s bad for him, but good for my daughter, well, the choice for me is clear.
I never made wood toys, I made collectable wood figurines that LOOKED like toys… why? If you say you make toys NOBODY will insure you (or the premium is more than I’d ever make in several lifetimes)…
It’s a twofold problem:
1 There should NOT be Lead, or Mercury, or anything like that IN toys, this is a given. The answer is simple, inspector oversite in China AND spot inspections here. If violations are found, shut the factory down until it’s fixed, second violation shut it down permanently. Small cottage industries should be willing to submit samples and provide records for inspectors as necessary IF or WHEN a question arises, and have records of what they use for production… not onerous, just common sense.
- SUPERVISE YOUR OWN KIDS, if you’re too lazy for that then hire a nanny or put them up for adoption. Yes, accidents happen, but I see entirely too many adults who let their brats run wild then look for someone else to blame when they get hurt. It does NOT take a whole damned village to raise a child, it takes ONE or TWO concerned parents. PERIOD.
Mike, if you are THAT concerned, then make your own toys for your kids. And be a PARENT and learn to say “no” when they whine for something questionable just because “everybody else has it”… It doesn’t require a bazooka to kill a mosquito, and it doesn’t require a nanny government to make a toy.
Mik said:
I never made wood toys, I made collectable wood figurines that LOOKED like toys... why? If you say you make toys NOBODY will insure you (or the premium is more than I'd ever make in several lifetimes)....It’s a twofold problem:
1 There should NOT be Lead, or Mercury, or anything like that IN toys, this is a given. The answer is simple, inspector oversite in China AND spot inspections here. If violations are found, shut the factory down until it’s fixed, second violation shut it down permanently. Small cottage industries should be willing to submit samples and provide records for inspectors as necessary IF or WHEN a question arises, and have records of what they use for production… not onerous, just common sense.
- SUPERVISE YOUR OWN KIDS, if you’re too lazy for that then hire a nanny or put them up for adoption. Yes, accidents happen, but I see entirely too many adults who let their brats run wild then look for someone else to blame when they get hurt. It does NOT take a whole damned village to raise a child, it takes ONE or TWO concerned parents. PERIOD.
Mike, if you are THAT concerned, then make your own toys for your kids. And be a PARENT and learn to say “no” when they whine for something questionable just because “everybody else has it”… It doesn’t require a bazooka to kill a mosquito, and it doesn’t require a nanny government to make a toy.
Mik, Don’t lecture me about how to raise my kid. She gets plenty of supervision but she also gets plenty of toys from relatives and friends, at birthday parties, when she has play dates at other kid’s houses. We’re going to raise her swaddled in a bubble. I don’t need a lecture from you on when to say “no,” we say no quite a bit and she’s being raised with very little of the trashy TV driven crap. But it’s none of your business how I raise my daughter.
As you say, toys should not have lead in them, period. Parents should not have to screen toys for known, well established toxins, just as adults should no t have to test every piece of food they buy.
Mike,
Would you consider the lead painted toys a form of terrorism or just capitalism?
mike omalley said:Hmmm, did I hit a little too close for comfort? And why shouldn't I lecture you on how to "properly" raise a kid? You lecture me and everybody else on every subject dear to the left. :)
Mik, Don't lecture me about how to raise my kid. She gets plenty of supervision but she also gets plenty of toys from relatives and friends, at birthday parties, when she has play dates at other kid's houses. We're going to raise her swaddled in a bubble. I don't need a lecture from you on when to say "no," we say no quite a bit and she's being raised with very little of the trashy TV driven crap. But it's none of your business how I raise my daughter......
Seems to me if the problem is Chinese made crap, then don’t buy it, and don’t let your kid play with it, even on a “playdate”, Tell your relatives what they can and can’t buy for YOUR child… got to be at least as easy as telling me what I should believe. If they don’t listen, ask them to exchange it for something you approve of, or toss it right in front of them. They’ll get over it in time for the graduation.
Steve Featherkile said:We have finally figured out what's wrong with Steve. He loved chewing on his toys! :lol:
Well, Mike, you are old enough to have played with toys that had lead in the paint, and you turned out ok.
-Brian
Ric Golding said:Not terrorists. At least terrorists have some misguided agenda. Those MFers who put melamine in baby formula to save a few pennies killing hundreds maybe thousands and injuring many thousands more infants all for the almighty buck are far worse than terrorists.
Mike, Would you consider the lead painted toys a form of terrorism or just capitalism?
-Brian
Brian Donovan said:Ric Golding said:Not terrorists. At least terrorists have some misguided agenda. Those MFers who put melamine in baby formula to save a few pennies killing hundreds maybe thousands and injuring many thousands more infants all for the almighty buck are far worse than terrorists.
Mike, Would you consider the lead painted toys a form of terrorism or just capitalism?-Brian
Brian, may your life always be so gentile that you can always feel that way.
Brian Donovan said:Ric Golding said:Not terrorists. At least terrorists have some misguided agenda. Those MFers who put melamine in baby formula to save a few pennies killing hundreds maybe thousands and injuring many thousands more infants all for the almighty buck are far worse than terrorists.
Mike, Would you consider the lead painted toys a form of terrorism or just capitalism?-Brian
Industrial China today is what Industrial America was about 100 or so years ago. How much is OUR fault because we sent all that nasty pollution,child labor, and sleazy business practices to the third world to get around OUR labor and product laws and save ourselves a few shekels as well. Sumtymez ya gitz perzakly whut ya payz fer.
To paraphrase my friend Kim’s favorite T-shirt “Mal-Wart selling cheap imported (and unsafe) crap for less – Always.”
Brian Donovan said:Steve Featherkile said:We have finally figured out what's wrong with Steve. He loved chewing on his toys! :lol:
Well, Mike, you are old enough to have played with toys that had lead in the paint, and you turned out ok.-Brian
There is nothing wrong with me…with me…with me…with me…
Well, I guess we have that problem solved.
Tell me, Brian, where did you go wrong? :lol:
BTW, I never had any toys. I had to work all the time, walk to school twenty miles uphill each way, through a blizzard. Didn’t have time for such foolishness.