O.K. there are no original thoughts and I am quite frankly relieved that someone else has been thinking of this too! This author looked around and was a bit appalled by being surrounded by Chinese goods. She decided to live without purchasing "Made in China" goods for one year and write about it. This book has been recently released and absolutely timely in the wake of recent news.
I too have been boycotting Chinese made products for several months now. It started out slowly and really only included children's clothing. That was after I read that a manufacturer in China put benzene dye in towels that were sold in China. I late 2005 a benzene spill in the Songhua River put a city of 4 million people at risk from poisoning and the government tried to keep it a secret! So I thought...no more clothing from China.
Things have gone from bad to worse and you know things have gotten pretty awful when CNN has a whole segment devoted to Chinese goods being tainted and recalled. I am sure you have read several articles not only on this blog, but now in the Globe, devoted to disclosing how Chinese imports can possibly harm us or our children. First toothpaste that contains anti-freeze is found right here in Massachusetts. The brands of Cooldent, Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste, Superdent, and Oral Bright should not be used and thrown out ASAP. Also if it is Colgate and it has made in South Africa it too should be tossed. In China, children's snack food has been recalled by Chinese officials. Gee I must be pretty bad for China to recall their own products.
The FDA recently "detained" Chinese imports of fish tainted with all kinds of nasty things including banned antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet, and fluoroquinolone. Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to be carcinogenic with long-term exposure in lab animals. Why the FDA did not recall these items is beyond me. Me thinks this had been going on for a long,long time so whats a bit more, right?
So about toys? Try and find a toy that is NOT made in China. Almost impossible. Why try and find them? Well to start take a look at the recalled list of toys from the consumer product safety commission. Most if not all of the toys are made in China. If you are the mom or dad of a preschool boy, Thomas trains are a fixture in your house. Some also contain lead paint!
So how is this related to sustainable living in Reading. What is the local impact? Well, these products can be found right here in Reading and surrounding areas. They have to ship them all the way around the world to land here. How is this ecological? At what cost to the planet are these goods costing? The obvious poisoning hazard is real not to mention the cost of an environmental catastrophe two heartbeat away to our fellow human beings in China. At what cost are these low cost items?
I have no quick answers here, but as a start I am going to read A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni. I have ordered it from out local bookstore, the second oldest bookstore in America, the Andover Bookstore. I was told that Reading also had a location right on Main Street but it had to close due to lack of business!!!!!!! Come on Reading! We can do better. I think we really need to support local businesses. Look what happens when we hand over local control over to multinationals. We get the China Syndrome!!!!!
Oh...just an update. The Globe has a great compilation of all of the many issues we just discussed in slideshow put online today!
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