Truth in Labeling: “Made in China”

Posted by Winged Hussar 1683 in November 7th, 2007

From the same country that poisons our pets, sells us toothpaste with diethylene glycol (antifreeze), and murders political prisoners to harvest their organs comes the latest in Mainland Chinese product quality and consumer safety excellence: exploding barbeque grills.

We recently helped a neighbor set up a brand-new barbeque grill. The side burner worked fine, but the main burner would not ignite despite repeated spark applications from the ignitor. We finally tried a flame lighter, and the result was a blowtorch of burning propane-not from the burner, but from the conduit that led to the burner. In other words, the grill came with a defective propane gas connection that, under other circumstances, might have easily led to a fire or explosion.

The grill’s poor quality and unsafe condition told us at once where it had been manufactured, but we felt we had to confirm our suspicions. Upon checking the manufacturer’s label, we discovered as expected: MADE IN CHINA. We accordingly recommend the following Truth In Labeling country of origin for Chinese-made products.

Crash Course in Quality for Chinese Car: Chery’s Hot-Selling Amulet Crumples in a Russian Test, Raising Broad Safety Issue
By ANDREW OSBORN August 8, 2007; Page B1

MOSCOW - Add another product to the list of Chinese exports whose safety is being called into question: cars.

In one of the few crash-tests to date of a Chinese-made vehicle outside China, a Chery Amulet sedan’s front end folded like a concertina in a recent trial here.

This is not encouraging either:

The chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, said Americans had “dodged a bullet” because no one died from using Chinese toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a poison used in antifreeze. But Panamanians were not so fortunate, Mr. Stupak added, when the same poison from China ended up in cold medicine, killing dozens.

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