December 19th, 2007
“You don’t have to buy outsourced things. You really can buy things that are made locally…That’s very easy. We’ve realized that,” she says.
Conversely Andy Smith, who has children Roxanne, 7, and Owen, 4, says he’s not surprised about the toy industry melt-down. But why the contagion of recalls only recently began is a mystery to him. He figures that media watch-dogging led to parental awareness, and the movement grew from there.
“But it’s like… that’s the way capitalism works unfortunately: Find the cheapest place to make something and then figure out the ethics later. … Is it wrong? Yes. Am I surprised? No. I can’t imagine that manufacturing in
He admits that earlier this year he and his wife, Jenny, had to return their son Owen’s Thomas the Tank Engine toys, which were recalled in June because some of the wooden trains had lead-based paint. And only a day before the couple planned to buy Aqua Dots for Roxanne, they read of that recall. The Smiths had heard great things about Aqua Dots from their 10-year-old niece, but they were horrified to learn that if the little beads are swallowed, they can create a chemical reaction, forming an toxin similar to that of GHB (Gamma Hydroxbutyric acid).
“We’re not throwing out everything we own that’s from China (which would be next to impossible), but it’s definitely been on our minds this year,” Smith says.
An issue that’s come up for Kristen and Brent Grulke, also of Austin, is the incredible waste that results when 23 million toys are recalled in a single year. While it would be interesting to know what the manufacturers do with the returned goods (Do they recycle?), Kristen says that the waste of money, materials, energy, even the waste of good will between child and parent, concern her.
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