Nancy Nord Continues To Lie About NPSC's Toy Testing
By Nicole Belle Sunday Nov 25, 2007 8:45pmHappy "Cyber-Monday", whatever that means. The whole ramp up of the Christmas shopping season has a tendency to make me want to go Amish. However, dutiful daughter and mother that I am, I spent part of Sunday at a mall with my father so that he could get my kids some Christmas presents. We ended up buying books and craft supplies because I couldn't find a single toy on my kids' Christmas lists that wasn't manufactured in China. Nothing like a little date rape drug to ring in the holidays, right?
However, Consumer Products Safety Commission head Nancy Nord continues to lie and obfuscate her department's negligence. Campaign for America's Future:
On Saturday, the Washington Post solicited reaction from the Consumer Product Safety Commission about our tragic and shocking new video -- showing Barbie contracting lead poisoning from Ken and demanding the resignation of acting head Nancy Nord.
And the misleading spin from Nord's people is just as nasty as the widespread lead. From the Washington Post:
"I'm not going to dignify the video with any kind of response other than to say it's riddled with inaccuracies," says Julie Vallese, an agency spokeswoman.
The "only one toy tester" claim became popular after the press reported earlier this fall that the CPSC had only one full-time tester. Vallese has been responding to it ever since.
"No one person at the commission has the title of toy tester," she said. Instead, the CPSC employs about 80 toxicologists, chemists, engineers and other professionals whose primary duty is toy inspection.
Tell that to the toy tester.[..]
What does that "about 80" figure really refer to? Field inspectors, not testers.
And there's not enough of them either.
Of course. After reading "Shock Doctrine" I can just imagine that the next wave of recalls will be followed by calls to privatize product testing.
Login or Register to post comments.
Musical Chairs
I'm still convinced China wouldn't shed a tear if we were all killed off by melamine, lead, and the other nasty poisons and toxics they put in to everything they ship to us. Be it deliberate or just the fact China is the most polluted toxic industrial environment on the planet. If they don't kill themselves first.
It's incompetence. Complete incompetence, and it will get us all killed. We have seen it over and over with this administration so nothing surprises me anymore. I also believe it's inherently Republican to be that way.
Nancy Nord needs to take a ride on this toy:
http://www.fugly.com/pictures/13889/cheese_grater_slide.html
the incompetence is no surprise, we are talking about the Bushies. The thing that amazed me was the stupid parents who still are buying toys from China. I even heard one guy say he was concerned but not so concerned that he wouldn't buy the toy, are you kidding me? this is your child we are talking about, right? people in this country are unbelievable, it is why America is an Idol Nation! we're stuck in neutral watching Reallity TeeVee which is so unreal it's not funny! it's pretty sad when you stop and think about it!
For a communist country, China is sure good at capitalism.
Buy Local, Support Independent Retailers!!
I make my living selling toys from China.
There are two ways to fix this this problem.
1) Hit the importer in the wallet.
2) Put some people in jail.
As you can imagine this has not been good for business.
http://www.toysmadeinamerica.com/
When the first trickle of Chinese goods began to displace their mostly US manufactured equivalents, I recognised the poor quality materials and slipshod assembly. Yet the headlong rush to gut this country of all manufacturing capabilities and the working middle class continued unabated. As I watched plant after plant close, barge up their machinery and ship it to China, I wondered what on earth all of these idiots were thinking - surely someone would resist this avaricious destruction of this economy in favor of propping up a communist country with no interest in it's own citizenry, much less those of a foreign land. And the more I resisted and complained about this crap being dumped on our shores under the guise of "cheaper products for American consumers", I saw what it was in actuality - A new slave labor force of billions working for peanuts (which, incidentally, you should not eat anymore either due to their importation from China and the refusal of vendors to label them as such. Same with apple juice and applesauce, for cripes sake.) which bumped commissions and profits sky high. The deep pockets becoming obscenely deeper. And the oft repeated, but never substantiated mantra of "opening the doors of foreign markets to American products" is complete bullshit. What the hell do we manufacture that anyone would want? Besides war machinery, of course...
As we all know (well, the more educated among us anyway), you never get "something for nothing", and the tab for this excess of binge corporate kool-aide swilling has yet to be totally accounted for. DON'T BUY THIS SHIT - if it says China, don't buy it. And even then, products are hastely being relabeled to hide their true origins as we speak. The hangover from this boondoggle is going to last decades. Just ask Italy.
But even I, as a steadfast pessimist, never expected THIS level of incompetence from designers, importers, manufacturers, and our own government. Welcome to the guilded Age of the NeoCons. Lie, cheat steal, kill your brothers and sisters - and their children. All for a buck. Idiot America is truly beginning to resemble the "Great Satan".
Dana @ 9:
Great link Dana.
Some really good companies who shortly will be doing even better than they have in the past.
I'm with Dr. Know. I'm glad that all this garbage from China is FINALLY FINALLY getting some attention. How many tons of poisonous food, toys, clothes, etc. is it going to take for something to be done about this? I've watched, dumbfounded, over the past ten years as the manufacturing capacity of the U.S. has been utterly annihilated by China's ridiculously unfair trade policies. Since it's clear that our government isn't going to do anything about it, my inner Repuclican says we all have to watch our own backs.
While I'm on my little podium, I haven't bought anything from China this year. That's right, nothing. I haven't been to a Wal-Mart in 5 years, back when it became obvious to me that they were in bed with China. It's hard, but you DON'T HAVE TO BUY CRAP FROM CHINA. Yes, it means looking around more, but it can be done. It blows me away that consumers are OK with having their own children poisened with lead, and are not instead rioting in the streets because of it.
Buy American when you can, and NEVER buy from communist China.
The China bashing is mostly contrived by the Bush administration. When I was a boy we bought and made lead toy soldiers. We would melt lead fishing sinkers in toy molds they sold at most 5 and dime stores, creating toy soldiers. So the lead scare is more Bush bull shit as far as I am concerned. Bush is a fucking killer since he sends kids to their death in Iraq based on lies and bull shit. Wake up America it's more Bushsit.
accountability in the bush administration
ZERO
impeaching bush and cheney
PRICELESS
It is hard to find anything not made in China. I try to avoid Chinese made products, because of their environmental policies and their atrocious record on animal rights and human rights. I look and look, and it becomes a full time job almost.
Dr Know is right...we packed up our manufacturing base and shipped it to a country that doesn't give a shit about us as anything other than a market for an endless supply of cheap crap, funnelled through the avaricious hands of Walmart and its ilk.
Nancy Nord belongs in prison. She doesn't care how many people die as long as the instant gratificationists on wall street are happy
Lies? fromm a boosh official? whooodathunkit???
K. Thoits @ 14:
get yourself checked out if you were that exposed. it will open your eyes.
intelligence, emotional stability and overall health has been shown to improve when lead is removed from an environment. the presence of lead is also proven to inhibit mental and psychological develpment in children. lead has also been linked to violence in adults.
Basically, no one in this administration cares about who lives or dies - except the unborn children of poor, unmarried mothers. Then they deny them health care while they're growing up, along with a comprehensive education, but if they make it to adulthood, well they can use 'em to fight their wars and make sure the coffers of the elitists remain filled to the brim.
This problem will not get better any time soon as we import most of the goods we use in this country - so we've essentially "exported" quality control. Hell, we import more than 50% of the food we need to survive! Most of this is a moot problem anyway, as the US dollar is beginnning it's long, slippery slide into oblivion, along with our economy, and our way of life - at least for the "great middle class." This time next year, I'm thinking most of us won't be able to afford too many toys made in China, or anywhere else, for that matter.
All of the creeps in the Bush admin. need to be IMPEACHED, indicted, convicted and sent to a nice corner cell in Guantanamo, where they can remain in a kneeling position for the rest of their lives.
I must say, I was very hopeful earlier today that the "Evil One" might just kick the bucket. Now that would give all of us something to be thankful for during this holiday season!
Is there anyone, in a position of authority in this country that is worth anything anymore? Does anyone do the job they were hired and trusted to do in government? Is everyone running important services a liar? Has it always been this pathetic?
K. Thoits @ 14:
I haven't cast a sinker, or reloaded a shotgun shell, in years. I still have elevated levels and ongoing health problems. There is nothing trivial about lead exposure, especially for children.
This is a typical D.C. cover-up by a Bush stooge, Nancy Nord.
She doesn't want to admit that she spent the whole CPSC toy-testing budget assuring that her personal toys were user-friendly and safe, and that expected battery-life standards were met.
Incidentally, her dildos are XXXLLL, and have caused a bit of comment about the CPSC labs, since some of the waggier testers have taken to using them as coat and hat racks.
"...I’m not going to dignify the video with any kind of response other than to say it’s riddled with inaccuracies,” says Julie Vallese, an agency spokeswoman...."
Yeah, that's right! It was inaccurate! Nancy knows that it wasn't lead, but really a combination of mercury and polonium poisoning, and she's doing everything she can to suppress that information until after the Christmas shopping season.
Boycott all manufacturers who have shipped jobs to China.
Thanks for that link, Dana. Bitching about the wrongs is a lot more gratifying when you know that you can do something to make them right.
Why would the Chinese care about the health of our children? I don't buy Chinese either, but i think that blaming all of this on the Chinese is mostly scapegoating. First, we've always had the choice as consumers, and it proves the point that how you spend your money is more important than how much money you spend. Second, a lot of these products are manufactured for US companies. Those companies should care for our children, because our children are their children too. They moved to China because labor was cheap and regulations were almost non-existent. Moreover, this trend began when China was awarded most favored nation status; i know this is a blue site, but it was not the Bush administration who gave the Chinese that title...they merely extended the process to its logical and destructive extreme.
But passing blame is a moot point now. We must face the fact that the vast percentage of our consumer goods come from a country that might as well be called an enemy. (I seriously doubt that the Chinese think of us as allies, especially considering the fact that our proxy war with them never ended.) Furthermore, we are in hock to those same people at levels without historic precedent. (Except maybe the beggarly, late Soviet Union.) So what are we going to do about it?
More toy inspectors may or may not be the answer; i don't think that it is the best answer because it only address the smoke, not the fire. Bookmark Dana's link and use it. Watch what you buy. Watch where you invest. No government, red or blue, is going to save this nation, especially from itself. We have to do it, because we are the only people who can.
I can't remember if it was Hegel or Marx who said, "You can always count on a capitalist to sell you the rope you are going to hang him with". The rapacious greed and inherent amorality of corporate America ultimately renders everything they are doing unsustainable and suicidal. The trick is to not be swept up into their ultimate downfall and avoid becoming one of their victims as they go about their business of destroying everything they touch, including themselves.
It's the day when we all get together and engage in Cybersex.
So... what are you wearing?
They toy companies will all be begging for more inspectors after Christmas when they see how crummy their sales were.
Uncle Milton's Market will take care of this minor issue. When enough tots ingest enough lead, parents will cease buying such products.
“No one person at the commission has the title of toy tester,” she said. Instead, the CPSC employs about 80 toxicologists, chemists, engineers and other professionals whose primary duty is toy inspection."
Then how did all the tainted toys get here?! Nancy... I'm asking you a question... you're supposed to respond to those. Oh nevermind... I'd call bull$hit on whatever crap response you had anyways. Only because you've shown yourself to be a liar and a crook. Well done fullfilling the republican('t) dream for America, you traitor!
Dr. Know @ 10:
Well said and I concur wholeheartedly. I've been boycotting Made-In-China products for years! That's right... I don't own any plastic crap, thank goodness, nor do I own that other cheap crappy $hit sold in most of the stores selling Made-In-China products.
I have less stuff and spend more money on quality things made at home. I support local artists and creators. I can pass by a crappy big box store--Wal-Mart, Costco, your-name-here--with no problem at all. I never enter a Wal-Mart and only did so once at the urging of my nephew. Yikes! What crap!!
Consumers need to let their feet do the walking. Honestly! Do you really think for one second that companies making these products in China or some other third-world country give a rat's ass about you? Think again!! It's the almighty buck they think about and that's pretty much it.
Login or Register to post comments.