Message #24382

[Bianca]

For Chinese children lead can be inescapable By Chris Buckley
Fri Aug 3, 6:25 AM ET
 


BEIJING (Reuters) - Parents around the world may have been shocked this week when 1.5 million Chinese-made Fisher-Price toys were recalled because of excessive lead content, but for mums and dads in China lead poisoning is just a fact of life.
 
Mattel Inc.'s worldwide recall of dozens of products is the latest in a deluge of safety scares that have rattled international consumer confidence in Chinese-made goods.

High levels of lead from toys, water pipes and industry can cause behavioral problems and slow learning among children.

But if Beijing was worried about Chinese children being affected, that was not reflected in state-run media on Friday, which were silent about Mattel's recall.

And it was business as usual in the toy section of Beijing's Tianyi department store.

"I do not worry so much, if the toy looks fun for my child, it is okay. My child is already so big, he is not going to put the toy in his mouth," said a Mrs. Zhang, who was buying toys for her four-year-old son.

Indeed, for many parents, lead competes with many other toxins in the heavily polluted country as a source of anxiety.

"There are just too many things to worry about," said Li Huijing, mother of a five-year-old girl. "There are some things I just try not to think about. I try to pay more for good toys."

HOUSE PAINT, OLD PIPES

China has responded to rising consumer expectations by setting stricter standards for lead in toys, most recently introducing new labeling rules. But imposing those standards on the country's vast and fragmented toy sector is difficult.

China makes 75 percent of the world's toys, according to the national chamber of light industry, and many of the thousands of producers are small and resistant to regulation.

They make cheap plastic, metal and wooden toys that -- if regular news reports are a guide -- often have a lead content well above government-set limits.

A 2005 report in a Beijing newspaper cited estimates that 60 percent of Chinese-made toys used paint with lead above internationally accepted limits.

The China Toy Association would not answer questions about the problem.

"The worry isn't big toy makers that also export their products. The worry is small factories," said Feng Guoqiang, a childhood development specialist at Peking University's Health Science Centre.

"It's a matter of money and choice. Some parents can't afford better, so they buy the cheapest on the stall."

Feng said that toys are not the biggest threat. China has phased out leaded petrol, but house paint, old pipes and buildings and belching factories are still big sources of lead.

A study of Chinese cities in 2004 found that 10.5 percent of children had lead levels in their blood of at least 100 microgram's per liter -- a level considered unhealthy by the World Health Organization.

"For us, the problem is the factories. What they make is less important," said Feng.