2007 Chinese export recalls

The 2007 Chinese export confidence crisis refers to a series of product recalls and import bans initiated by the product safety institutions of the United States and European Union against products manufactured in and exported from the People's Republic of China because of numerous consumer safety issues claimed from the importing nations. Events included in the export confidence crisis include recalls on consumer goods such as pet food, toys, toothpaste, and a ban on certain types of seafood. Also included are reports on the poor crash safety of Chinese automobiles, slated to enter the American and European markets in 2008. This has created adverse consequences for the confidence in the safety and quality of Chinese manufactured goods in the global economy.

Pet Food

Main article: 2007 pet food recalls

On 15 March a Canadian pet food manufacturer...notified the US Food and Drug Administration that animals had died after eating its products. The next day, popular brands of pet food were withdrawn across the US while the FDA began its search for the cause. The prime suspect for the killer ingredient was melamine, an industrial chemical...found in plastics and resins. The FDA examined 210 samples of...pet food and...ingredients in six field laboratories. Of those,...130 tested positive for melamine, either in the food itself or in...wheat gluten used to thicken the gravy accompanying it. Researchers at...Cornell University...found melamine crystals in urine and kidney tissue taken from...dead cats, New Scientist reported 'How melamine might have got into the pet food remains controversial,' the journal added. 'The FDA says it originated in wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China that was added to the pet food by US manufacturers. American journalists have since reported that factory owners in China have admitted to routinely adding melamine to such products to boost their nitrogen content, and so make it appear that they contain more protein that they actually do. China explicitly banned this practice on 26 April, though officials dispute any suggestion that melamine from their country could have been responsible for killing America's pets.'

Wilbur-Ellis

April, 2007 Animal feed provider, Wilbur-Ellis, issued a recall of rice protein it supplies to pet food companies because it may contain melamine, an agent toxic to animals. The rice protein was imported from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. in China, a company spokesman said.

Toys

RC2 Corp

In June 2007, toy firm RC2 Corp recalled several of its Thomas & Friends wooden train sets because of the level of lead in the paint its Chinese contractor had used.

Hasbro

In July 2007, Hasbro recalled about 1 million Chinese-made Easy-Bake Ovens because children Young children could put their hands into the oven's front opening, and get their hands or fingers caught, risking 'entrapment and burn hazards' &ndash this followed the partial amputation of five-year-old girl's finger.

In February 2007, the company had to recall About 985,000 Chinese-made Easy-Bake Ovens sold since May 2006 because children could get their fingers caught in door and risked burning themselves. The company had received 29 reports of the ovens injuring children getting their fingers.

Mattel

In four weeks, the world's biggest toy company recalled millions of products

On August 1 2007, Mattel recalled toys modelled on Sesame Street's Big Bird and Elmo, and Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer because of lead levels in the paint used.

On August 14 2007, additional recalled from products made in China include: 7.1 million Polly Pocket toys produced before November 2006; 600,000 Barbie and Tanner Playsets; 1 million Doggie Daycare, Shonen Jump's One Piece and thousands of Batman Manga toys because they had exposed magnets that could fall off. The company also recalled Sarge diecast toys from the Pixar movie Cars (movie) because of concerns over the level of lead used in the paint on them.

On September 4 2007 Mattel recalled 800,000 Barbie doll accessories and Fisher-Price toys after tests showed the paint used on them contained lead. "Several subcontractors are no longer manufacturing Mattel toys. We apologize again to everyone affected and promise that we will continue to focus on ensuring the safety and quality of our toys," said chairman and chief executive Robert Eckert.

EU Toothpaste Recall

The EU's RAPEX rapid alert system had alerted member states' governments to pull two brands of Chinese-made toothpaste, Spearmint and Trileaf Spearmint, from European shelves after they were found to contain diethylene glycol, a constituent of antifreeze. EU consumer affairs commissioner Meglena Kuneva had said: "The RAPEX alert system has demonstrated its value in this case and has paved the way for a rapid EU-wide safety response prompted by the vigilance of the Spanish authorities". Tests on toothpaste found in Italy and Portugal had confirmed the results of Spain's tests, which had triggered the alert. The 'authorities in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Australia have found [diethylene glycol], known to have been a source of a number of mass poisonings, usually from adulterated medicines, in toothpaste products', the paper added.

Ultimate Sanction

On 10 July 2007, China executed the former head of its state food and drug administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, for dereliction of duty and taking 6.5m yuan (about US $850,000) in bribes from the manufacturers of substandard medicines that had been blamed for several deaths. Zheng, who headed the agency between 1998 and 2005, had become the symbol of the quality control crisis in China's trade arising from the export of tainted goods – for some of which the authorities in Beijing had blamed him. The harsh sentence reflected Beijing's resolve to wipe out corruption and to ensure consumer safety, China Daily reported on 11 July quoting the state Xinhua news agency. "Zheng Xiaoyu's grave irresponsibility in pharmaceutical safety inspection and failure to conscientiously carry out his duties seriously damaged the interests of the state and people," Xinhua had cited the high court as saying.

A court had in early July 2007 had handed down a suspended death sentence on one of Zheng's subordinates on the same charges, the paper added. And a third official at the agency was in jail after being convicted of taking bribes and illegally possessing a firearm. "The nest of corruption in the food and drug administration has done incalculable harm to the state and people," China Daily quoted the Procuratorial Daily as saying.

China was the world's largest exporter of consumer products, and tainted goods represented a small fraction of the country's exports worth more than $1,000 billion a year...But officials worried that protectionist forces in the US could use the spate of quality problems to restrict trade. As Zheng was being executed, representatives of the country's leading food and drug regulatory bodies were holding a joint news conference to emphasize their determination to crack down on fake and counterfeit food and medicine. After weeks of denying serious problems or accusing foreign forces of exaggerating the issue, officials have recently begun to strike a less defensive tone. One senior official acknowledged that the food and drug safety network still allowed too many unsafe goods to slip through and said that at the moment the trend "is not promising...As a developing country, China's current food and drug safety situation is not very satisfactory because supervision of food and drug safety started late. Its foundation is weak so the supervision of food and drug safety is not easy," said Yan Jiangying, deputy policy director of the agency Zheng had headed.

On August 11 2007 Zhang Shuhong, co-owner of the Lee Der Toy Company, which supplied Mattel, the world's biggest toy company, with toys based on the Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street and Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer, committed suicide at one of his factory, leaving his factories littered with goods made for Mattel and its Fisher-Price division. Before hanging himself, he paid off all his 5,000 staff.

External Links

• Australian government's product recall news
• EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner's product recall news
• consumer.org.nz's New Zealand product recall news
• US FDA Product Recalls
• US Consumer Product Safety Commission dangerous products news
• Unsafe Chinese Products Page. . It lists products as recalls are published. Contains links to specific information and photographs of recalled products at the Web site of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and in media reports. (This is a political website and may be less reliable than neutral sites.).

See also

• China compulsory certification
• Chinese National Standards
• Chinese protein export scandal