China still trying to poison our kids
Want to protect your children? Don't just keep them off the meds -- keep the little tykes far, far away from anything with "Made in China" on the label.
I know -- that's pretty much everything. But the lead-toy scandal is about to have a sequel as the Chinese junk peddlers turn to a different heavy metal for their shoddy children's jewelry items.
An Associated Press investigation finds that some toy jewelry is loaded with cadmium, a heavy metal that -- like lead -- has been linked to brain development problems. It's also known to cause cancer.
Some of these charms are so packed with cadmium that they may as well be carved out of it. One set of charms sold in Wal-Mart stores contained between 84 and 86 percent cadmium. Other items tested were up to 91 percent cadmium.
In all, 12 of the 103 items tested by the AP contained at least 10 percent cadmium, including products with popular characters on them like a Disney princess and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
But the biggest outrage isn't the fact that the Chinese are loading up boats with this junk and aiming them at our kids...it's that this known toxin is a perfectly legal ingredient in children's jewelry.
They could use 100 percent cadmium...and break no laws.
Thank your local congressmen -- when they passed "tough" new laws after the lead scandal, they left a loophole big enough to sail a barge full of tainted toys through. The law restricts cadmium in painted toys...but it's completely silent on children's jewelry.
And the Chinese are taking full advantage of that.
Send 'em a message: Stop buying this garbage. From toys to food to drywall, keep Chinese-made junk out of your home.
Stores are already pulling some of these products from their shelves, but without standards and tests it's impossible to tell which ones are safe and which ones aren't.
And if they do pass new laws...rest assured, comrades: The Chinese junk lords will find some other cheap toxin to use instead.
Pointing out the bull in this China shop,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
