Everybody is getting into the action:
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission is taking the lead on federal efforts, Jackson said, working with a group of federal and state agencies including the EPA, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the Florida Department of Health. The CPSC has been working on the drywall issue since last December by conducting meetings with wallboard manufacturers, tracking the drywall import stream and consulting with the U.S. Geological Survey on gypsum geology in China. The CPSC also is working with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on deconstruction safety and the development of further study plans.
The EPA’s environmental response team in Edison, N.J., is now analyzing samples of defective drywall found in Florida homes and comparing it to product samples of domestically manufactured drywall, Jackson said. Results of those studies should be available within the next couple weeks.”
Tags: Chinese drywall, CPSC, EPA, Forlida Department of Health, Linkedin
Reading Tea Leaves by Randy Wilson 
May 6, 2009 at 6:49 pm |
Why do American companies seem to think that they have ZERO responsibility to ensure that the products they sell to consumers are safe? Just because they outsource the labor to a developing country, doesn’t remove their responsibility to ensure product quality. Chinese companies allow the companies they produce products for to do on site quality control, and they can refuse delivery (and payment) for products that don’t meet the standards determined by their customers.
American companies choose not to do quality control (or testing) on these products to save money. Also, Americans almost completely ignore our own quality control issues. Everyone knows about the lead found in toys manufactured in China, but very few know that far more toys manufactured in the US have lead as well. A recent study found that 21% of toys from China had trace levels of lead. However, 35% of toys from the US also had lead. In fact, the only toys that contained dangerous levels of lead were made in the USA. Why don’t we hear about this on CNN?
Americans are always looking for someone else to blame for their problems. Just because an American company moves production overseas, doesn’t mean they can also eliminate quality control. Also, if a company imports a product, it is their responsibility to make sure it is safe for consumers. To cut costs, many US companies simply don’t do any quality control. Sure, it might cost money to test these products, but that is the cost of doing business.
May 6, 2009 at 8:17 pm |
Well said. Thanks.
May 6, 2009 at 8:12 pm |
Don’t blame China, the blame falls on our congress for not doing something sooner about Chinas poison toys, poison milk, poison pet food, poison candy and loss of millions of american jobs, as a country we will get what’s coming to us for not protesting foreign imports and being sheep about letting this happen.
Remember that old saying “don’t cry over spilled melamine tainted milk”
May 6, 2009 at 8:17 pm |
Good points. Thanks for sharing them.