Sacramento Bee editorial cartoonist Rex Babin offers a timely reminder for those of us hitting the stores tomorrow to begin our holiday shopping. Beyond the usual concerns in picking safe, age-appropriate gifts for children (here's a link to some safety tips), this year's shopping season brings a whole new bunch of concerns. In addition to your shopping list, make sure you have your up-to-date recall list!
Here's another site with some shopping information to arm yourself with (and an entertaining video). It also can help you find the recent recalls. Some of the info on there says:
- This year, more than 25 million toys have been recalled, many for dangerous lead paint.
- 80% of toys are made in China.
- The agency responsible for the safety of more than 15,000 products has only 15 inspectors at ports nationwide.
- The FDA inspects only about 1% of imported food.
Those homemade gifts are looking better and better.
...in china, they often produce 2 product lines...one for the E.U.,where they have stringent product safety law, and one for the U.S.A.,where corporate profit will always trump public interest.