Those who’ve been watching the news lately or have been simply noticing small children experiencing chronic neurological problems, have also probably caught eye of the federal recalls regarding lead-based consumer goods, like kids’ toys. The lead-based paint-coated products that compels children’s tastes for paned-glass on short, yellow school buses to get stronger is thanks to exports from our industrious, however unconventional, manufacturing friends from the Peoples’ Republic of China.
Toys like J.C. Penney’s Disney Winnie-the-Pooh 23-Piece Play Set, which in the past would have made many an American youngster very happy, instead makes them very much in a coma. Not only toys, but many other products like the Food and Drug Administration’s regulated goods that have been recalled are in the news a lot more lately, also. Pet food, as seen this past summer, has also been subject to FDA recalls. 19 varieties of pet food were tested and resulted in high qualities of chemicals like melamine and aflatoxin. Funny, all of these varieties of pet food had been exported from China. Melamine is found in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants, while aflatoxin, a chemical that may become the result of old, moldy grains, is known to cause liver cancer. It looks dog’s health will be the equivalent of my alcoholic, firefighting uncle that doesn’t wash his vegetables and eats recyclables.
Federal recalls have existed in the past as long as companies create and sell bad products, but why have they been so commonplace lately that they have to scare the digested matter out of viewers? The mass-produced obvious answer is “because the products are from China and we should blame them for trying to poison us!”
But what about the American manufacturer who solicits this cheap labor and production from China and desires a safe, quality product? It doesn’t exist. “Excuse me, Mr. Homeless man without any resources, can you build me a Bentley and fast? Here’s $30.” Twenty minutes later, they’ve got a Bentley. It’s just not possible. One cannot blame the homeless guy, or, in reality, the underpaid worker for what their government lets them do. One cannot blame even the foreign government for a product that, knowingly by the buyer, is not quality and may be manufactured in an irregular method. One can only pity them for their underdeveloped ethics or lack thereof.
Others have more pity for the people who are forced to read this news about these recalls on TV: those poor souls that slave over a hot, live camera and are pressured to poison the masses, between being tortured off-camera during commercials, which the public never sees? Can one imagine the words of those suffering news anchors distributed to the equally unfortunate viewers, making them wonder if their new “Made in China” chew toy they bought and gave their dog earlier that morning will dynamically reduce their costs in Baxter’s kibble expenses? Especially, if the costs are already cut being the result of your dog’s expensive attendance to alcoholics anonymous. Not to mention the fact that anchors are getting beaten during commercials. It’s saddening. It’s the only time that tears were shed while viewing tasty McNuggetts.