Heard about the massive toy recall by Mattel? I first heard about it on NPR, and then was e-mailed by my major professor, Ann Murray, about it. THe problem, as I see it, is that everything is made in China (I'm not just saying that, all of the toys that were recalled were made in China...and almost all the toys that are recalled in the US form ANY company are made in china. China doesn't have the standards that we have, but the companies that they sell them to in America do have standards. So if they aren't careful about checking the products they are having made for them, then dangerous toys get sold in the US market.
So Mattel is in BIG trouble. They appologized, but, from what I heard Mattel's president on NPR say, he is confident no one will loose faith in them because they are a house hold name. (He didn't sound that appologetic...much more defensive than appologetic).
In the e-mail Ann Murray sent (a forward from ExchangeEveryDay, a listserve for subscribers to Exchange Magazine, a child care magazine) there was a link to a list of considerations before buying a toy. Take a look. On the web page on the top right corner is a PDF version in a much better checklist format. Good for printing out to take with you whne you shop for toys for your classroom or home.
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We can all teach companies like Mattel a lesson by making an effort to buy American toys. And there really are some VERY NICE toy companies still here in America. For an extensive list of American toy companies, with more than 75 clickable links to a variety of toy companies here in the US, please check out: www.toysmadeinamerica.com. Corporations may be outsourcing American jobs and making record profits in the process, but we can all still make an effort to buy American!
Teresa
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