| Forget
Canada, Blame China |
| When I was a child, playing with play-dough was a favorite
activity. My mother loved it because it occupied my sister
and me for hours, and we loved it because we had a little
snack while we played. Eating the dough, after all, was a
foregone conclusion. |
| My mother mixed flour, water and a heavy dose of salt (which
she added in great doses to everything she cooked), then tossed
in a few drops of coloring and her children were ready to
be entertained for the afternoon. The total cost of the activity
was probably 20 cents. |
| It was cheap and harmless, and it didn't matter if we pretended
to be dinosaurs and bit the heads off our creations, or made
colorful fake teeth that eventually ended up in our stomachs.
Kids will be kids, after all. |
| The thought that just about any toy is liable to end up
in a child's mouth from time to time is a lesson toy companies
around the world, and their manufacturing partners in China,
seem not to have learned. |
| After months of reports about lead and toxic, industrial-strength
substances being used to manufacture products for children
in China, this week brought even more disturbing news. |
| A product called Aqua-Dots was recalled because when ingested
it is broken down into the elements of the so-called "date
rape" drug, and several children around the world have fallen
into comas by eating the product. |
| I know this product, because it's one of the many things
my 5-year-old has been clamoring for as a Christmas present.
It consists of small beads of every color that are arranged
to create a pattern and then fused together using water. It's
the kind of product most parents would look at and say, "Yeah,
that'll end up in someone's mouth." |
| What the manufacturers were thinking when they created the
toy to be deadly I can only imagine, but greed and negligence
are high on the list. |
| Disreputable manufacturers who add chemicals to their factory
process without informing the company who ordered the toys
is despicable enough. But how could anyone design, build and
market a toy that is sure to be used in creative ways by children
without thoroughly researching what the effects of misuse
would be? That's unacceptable. |
| As the holidays approach this year, I think I'll take the
advice of my wife and purchase wooden toys made by respectable
craftsmen and try to avoid the mass-produced, super-hyped
toys of the season. |
