A little pause for thought on the China manufacturing / quality control issue

It's not my field but the use of lead paint in all products has declined drastically over the years whilst the incidence of autism has increased exponentially during the same period.

If you think the boy in the article had problems I once knew a boy with both autism and haemophilia. Imagine how he reacted to the prospect of a blood test?

(kim)

I would question the use of the word 'incidence'. The 'detection' of autism has improved greatly over the past 10 to 15 years. Some people within the world of autism are convinced that heavy metals like lead and mercury have a direct relationship with autism.

It took five of us to hold our autistic son whilst he had a blood test and he still struggled so violently the blood test was ruled useless as the blood clotted in the syringe.

Many of the models purchased are for children and in this age dangerous metals should not be used in their production. I have no real objections to models or toys made overseas but I want them to be safe for our children to use.

I can see a US boycott of items made in China on the horizon.

I can't. A cursory inspection of the items made in China for the US market would show the shops with no stock ! (no matter whether you look at toys, model trains, or general consumer goods - electronics, computers, clothing). Any boycott would last about 2 days.

- Nigel

So can I, but it won't be anything to do with production problems. And it won't last long when non-Chinese products are priced up.

Richard

Why do you link this to China manufacturing/quality control? AIUI it is now known that this is a Mattel problem.

MBQ

Yes it's a Mattel problem ...... about items they had made in China !

The bottom line is these companies have these products made in places like China & India due to the greatly reduced labour costs and government incentives. The days of 'Buy British' have long since gone and even if you do find a 'British' made product the company is probably owned by non UK investors.

I have no real problem with that, I would like to see some savings passed on but I am realistic, part of the extra savings on labour should be used in better quality control.

How long before we see counterfeit models reaching our shores ?

I think the problem was that the items did pass qulity controll and where made to spec. Unfotunatly Mattel orderd the wrong Spec.

The fact that this is on a website called Lawyers and Settlemements and this at the bottom "If your child has suffered damages in this lead poisoning case, please contact a lawyer involved in a possible [Mattel Toy Recalls Lawsuit] who will review your case at no cost or obligation." tells you everything you need to know about this case.

Fred X

" tells you everything you need to know about this case " YES they live in the USA !

Dodgy knock-off plastic kits appear.

I got some tank kits from a pound shop which turned out to be (presumably dodgy) copies of Hasegawa kits. The instructions were "interesting"; a Churchill tank with the side thingies containing the tracks on backwards, and a German half-track with instructions for a US vehicle. The stickers (not decals!) were strange too.

There are several billion Chinese/Asians out there just looking for something to do with their CD burners/photocopiers/moulding machines/... Post them one of your Tri-ang TT3 train sets and you can have 100,000 copies for $10- and in a fortnight there will be 10 other factories turning out copies of copies at half price.

A quid is all I'd pay for some of the old kits still doing the rounds. The moulds must have been paid for *decades* ago.

(kim)

I got some presumably genuine (but would they admit it) Starfix kits in a sale at a pound shop. I was still ripped off.

Fred X said the following on 05/10/2007 19:27:

OK, lead isn't something you want to have too much of, but a child chewing the odd toy with leaded paint is not going to suffer lead poisoning! Jeez - how long have many of us been exposed to lead for years without ill effect? Yes, by all means remove lead from products, but just because some slipped through is no reason to start suing left, right and centre - there's nothing to sue for! I read somewhere that the USA has the highest number of "lawyers" per capita in the world....

I've not gone mad, just because I'm a squirrel :-)

It certainly tells you all you need to know about the "facts", or selection of, presented on that web site.

Richard

Our insurers for the business will not offer cover at any price for the US for just that reason.

"Mock The Week" has a section where the guests have to come up with phrases that some group or other are unlikely to say.

I don't know if they've done lawyers yet as I don't see every edition, by my offerings would be :

"Oh dear, that's bad luck, never mind eh?"

or

"Accidents happen, bad luck."

or

"But it didn't really hurt/inconvenience/upset you, did it?"

or, the long awaited one

"No charge."

As far as I'm aware, every squirrel I've come accross has been completely sane, with the possible exception of Tufty.

Richard

Hornby paid far too much for Airfix and are now having to charge upwards of £3.99 for kits that originally cost less than two bob in order to recoup their investment.

(kim)

Like Hronby and Batchman?

At least they didn't buy Starfix. My Starfix Spitfire resembles a Spitfire in the sense that it has the same number of wings.