Lead paint

[mswas]

@Sean Factotum

With or without the lead paint?

Yes.

[Tuckerfan]

@Voyager

I suppose the only solution is to boycott Chinese made products to force companies to source elsewhere. That should convince the Chinese government to put these scum up in front of a firing squad, which will eventually fix the problem.

I’m intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[mhendo]

@Pullet

Seems like China’s big production problems have mostly been due to corner cutting.

I could almost accept maliciousness better than incompetence.

With stuff like this, there is effectively no difference between “corner cutting” and maliciousness.

If you cut corners and use products that you know are dangerous in order to save money, that should be treated no differently than if you had used those products with the specific intent of harming someone.

[Merijeek]

@Pullet

I could almost accept maliciousness better than incompetence.

Corruption. A law or standard is meaningless if not enforced.

-Joe

[Triskadecamus]

@FatBaldGuy

Of course, you meant to say Fisher Price.

Yeah.

Sorry, I don’t have a lot to do with toys lately.

It kind of limits the effectiveness of a boycott in my particular case. But, I must admit I am reluctant to buy anything from China, and I do look at labels.

Tris

[mswas]

@Tuckerfan

I’m intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Yeah, seriously, Good luck with that Voyager.

[Skywatcher]

@FatBaldGuy

@Triskadecamus

Let Playskool know they are on probation, and one more screw up, and they go on the fifteen year list, too.

Of course, you meant to say Fisher Price.

Or Mattel.

[pudytat72]

@Voyager

That should convince the Chinese government to put these scum up in front of a firing squad, which will eventually fix the problem.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China food safety head executed

they have: The former head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

[Scissorjack]

@BwanaBob

We’d be doing a service if we bombed every lead paint factory on earth.

C’mon, imagine the PR disaster when bad intel led you to mistakenly target a Chinese factory that turned out only to make lead-based babyfood.

[Triskadecamus]

Good thing for Playskool that I don’t actually buy toys anymore.

OK, boycott Mattel.

Or, just read labels and don’t buy anything Chinese. (Well, stuff you are buying to intentionally kill things, or make things very sick are still OK, I suppose.)

Tris

[wonky]

@Diomedes

The paints chips are a lot tastier, too. Tangy, with a hint of lime zest.

My brother used to work for a company that made lead glass TV tubes. He said that lead was sweet.

[Boozahol_Squid_P.I]

@jsgoddess

My brother used to work for a company that made lead glass TV tubes. He said that lead was sweet.

Is it wrong that I actually now have an unwholesome urge to start licking various metallic objects, just to see what they taste like? I wonder if I could get a grant…

[Tuckerfan]

@Diomedes

Is it wrong that I actually now have an unwholesome urge to start licking various metallic objects, just to see what they taste like? I wonder if I could get a grant…

You’ll be disappointed. All of them taste pretty much the same.

[Una_Persson]

@jsgoddess

My brother used to work for a company that made lead glass TV tubes. He said that lead was sweet.

It is sweet, very much so. I accidentally inhaled lead dust once, and it was like sprinkling a fine coating of Equal on your tongue.

[Boozahol_Squid_P.I]

@Tuckerfan

You’ll be disappointed. All of them taste pretty much the same.

I’m looking for government grant money here. Results are irrelevant!

However, just to show my dedication to this endeavour, I just licked the working end of a vanadium steel screwdriver (Craftsmen, for anyone wishing to duplicate this experiment.) Discounting the slight alcohol taste that resulted from my disinfecting of the instrument, this mix of Vanadium, Iron, Carbon, and probably some other elements like Chromium, had a definitely sour (and dare I say tangy?) taste to it. Not at all the sweetness I’ve been promised by lead!

[Voyager]

@Una Persson

It is sweet, very much so. I accidentally inhaled lead dust once, and it was like sprinkling a fine coating of Equal on your tongue.

The reason that interior lead paint was so dangerous was that kids used to eat the flakes, no doubt because of the sweetness.

BTW, in the Times today, I think, there is an article on how kids jewelry with lead is also coming from China, getting swallowed, and killing kids.

[Rico]

Tonight’s Jay Leno Monologue:

“Today Chinese officials recalled 20,000,000 tons of lead - for fear that it may contain toys…”

[Tuckerfan]

Chinese company president commits suicide.

The head of a Chinese toy manufacturing company at the center of a huge U.S. recall has committed suicide, a state-run newspaper said Monday.

Zhang Shuhong, who ran the Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., killed himself at a warehouse over the weekend, days after China announced it had temporarily banned exports by the company, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.