Dangerous Chinese Goods - the consumers speak

When it comes to the question of unsafe Chinese goods in the US, the media is often quick to lay blame on China's doorstep, with unscrupulous factory owners and lax government safety standards being the top two bogeymen of the day. However, among the American consumers, opinions are a little more divided, and things are to so clear cut as the big media would have us believe. As two recent consumer polls have shown

The Numbers

According to an IPSOS survey, carried out between24 and 26 August (#81-5861-57) US consumers placed the most blame for unsafe Chinese products in the US on Chinese manufacturers, followed by the Chinese government, then US companies.

64% percent of respondents indicated that Chinese factories should bear “a lot” of the blame and a further 20% felt that they should bear “some” blame. Speaking about their own companies, 54% of consumers indicated that US businesses should bear “a lot” of blame and a further 33% indicating that they should bear at “some” blame.

Do you think each of the following deserves a lot, some, only a little or none of the blame for the recent cases of unsafe Chinese products being sold in the United States?

	A Lot	Some	A Little	None	Uncertain	A Lot/ Some	A Little/ None
US Government	37	39	17	6	2	75	23
Chinese Government	53	26	12	6	3	79	18
Chinese Manufacturers	64	20	9	4	2	84	14
American companies who sell the products	52	33	10	4	1	84	15
American consumers who demand low - cost products	38	33	16	11	2	71	27

Additionally, 71% of respondents voiced that US consumers were at least partially to blame because of their demand for low cost products, with 38% stating that they should take “a lot” of the blame for the current situation and 33% stating that consumers should take “some” blame.

Conflicting Figures

While the IPSOS poll indicated that American consumers blame the Chinese government more than their own, and put the majority of the fault on Chinese manufacturers, these results have been questioned by some due to other polls showing the exact opposite situation.

According to a Gallup poll carried out over a similar period (23-26 August) US consumers placed the majority of blame on US safety inspectors for allowing unsafe Chinese products onto the market in the first place, and on US companies for doing the same.

Who do you blame most for the problems with the safety of products made in China that are sold in the United States?

US Safety Inspectors	35%
US Businesses	31%
Chinese Manufacturers	19%
Chinese Safety Inspectors	13%

       
       
   
   


(Source: http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28552)

The primary difference between the two poles was that the Gallup poll was more direct in its approach; asking consumers specifically who they blamed “the most”. It also did not provide respondents with the option to apportion blame to consumers.

Responsibility?

While both consumers and the big media have their perspectives, some industry analysts and China watchers have taken stock of the situation and have asked a simply question: “Why are unsafe products allowed to get far enough down the chain to be recalled in the first place?”

According to Stephanie Oppenheim, the publisher of the “Oppenheim Toy Portfolio”; A US based toy safety guide, many US companies have been putting consumer safety at risk by failing to carry out basic safety checks during production. Instead allowing their products to pass all the way through the chain – and  into the consumer's hands – then recalling them if/when a safety issue us raised.

Speaking through the Washington Times in August, Oppenheim voiced that federal legislation needs to be brought in in order to protect consumers. Legislation which would made it a legal requirement for   companies introduce batch checking procedure in order to protect consumers.


Under such legislation, manufacturers would be forced to take a sample from each production batch, and to check it against mandated safety standards. If the sample products failed to meet safety standards then the entire production batch would be considered to have failed, and would either have to be scrapped or reconditioned (depending on the nature of the product).

Had Mattel put such a procedure in place  at the factory level the recent lead paint scandal; which saw them recall 1.5 units, would have been averted because the tainted toys would have been detected before they left China. Thus, they would never have entered the US supply chain, putting consumer health at risk.

At present, it is Washington's position that mandatory regulation would impact too heavily on the profits and productivity of US businesses, and that they should, instead, be allowed to regulate themselves.


According to IPSOS 65% of responders voiced that Washington need to do more to to ensure the safety of products imported from China, while 30% were satisfied with the current system. 2% believed that the government was being overzealous in its enforcement.

Consumer Trust

Overall, the survey indicated that 75% of consumers had a good level of confidence in the products that they brought, regardless of the point of origin. However, when broken down further, only 21% of consumers expressed a strong level of confidence, with the remaining 54% expressing that they were “Somewhat confident”. A further 8% expressed that they had no confidence in the safety of consumer products, regardless of where they were made.

Recalls - Overall

As of August 2007, there were 234 product recalls in the US. 154 of these products were of Chinese origin, 43 were American and the remaining 37 were manufactured in other locations.

Recalls - Toys

44 recalls involved children's toys, with 12 related to lead or other chemicals being present, and 12 relating to chocking hazards.

Over 18 million individual Chinese made toys were recalled due to design flaws that were present in the original product specifications, and which cannot be traced back to bad factory practices.

Discount stores such as Target are currently the biggest retailer of potentially dangerous toys.

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