Tainted Lives

Many companies such as Wal Mart import most of, if not all, of their products from countries such as India, Japan, and China. Recently, i'm sure you've all heard, there has been a rash of toy recalls including dolls which contained lead. Most of the toys have had only minor defects, but the lead filled products, including toothpaste, has terrified Americans. Every time I turn on the news (I try not to watch it, although sometimes Calvin leaves it on) there are new recalls.

Now, you've heard the people who say that foreigners are taking our jobs and that things should be made in the US again. Now, most of these people are bigots who hate foreigners in general regardless of the quality of the products coming from such countries. However, I now agree with them. This morning there was a recall on a toy called Aqua Dots. Tiny little beads that a child could, of course, swallow turned out to contained GHB, similar to that found in date rape drugs. One child slipped into a coma after swallowing several of these beads and having them dissolve in his system. Doctor's were confused and absolutely stumped until the recall.

There is a line, people. When our children's toys start killing them because of poor foreign quality standards, then we need to put our own in place. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean moving the factories here and causing so many Chinese to lose their jobs. It could mean sending American inspectors to China and requiring them to adhere to our standards of quality and safety regulations. This must happen, for the safety of our children.