What do melamine contaminated pet food and lead laced baby bibs have in common? Both are manufactured in a country that is one of the largest poorly regulated importers to the US market. That would be China.
Walmart has announced a recall of baby bibs containing lead levels that are 16 times greater than allowed in paint. The bids, sold by Walmart, are made by Hamco Inc., located in Lousiana. Crown Crafts, Inc., a client of Haliburton Investor Relations, distributes the bibs.
The bibs are made for Hamco, Inc. by a yet unidentified Chinese company.
WRAL Wal-Mart's recall comes after a lawsuit over the bibs by the Center for Environmental Health, based in Oakland, California Alexa Engelman, a researcher there, said the center became aware of the bibs in September. Engelman said a report by an independent laboratory test contracted by the center showed the bibs contained 16 times the amount of lead allowed in paint.
Lead, used as a stabilizer in vinyl plastic, can be "easily substituted" for other products, Engelman said. She said the bibs' manufacturing tags show they were made in China.
"The lead doesn't need to be in there and it's not hard for these companies to take it out," she said. "In this case, we really feel like getting the products off of the shelf is an important first step and an important step to protect kids."
Walmart working hard to improve its image did not act on this until pressed by a lawsuit. Nice! That's a good little baby, have a little bit of brain damage with your pureed carrots and peas.
Could melamine in the human and pet supply chain, and lead in baby bibs be the tip of an iceberg of contaminated products that are entering our country?
Probably.
NYTimes "The public thinks the food supply is much more protected than it is," said William Hubbard, a former associate commissioner who left in 2005 after 27 years at the agency. "If people really knew how weak the F.D.A. program is, they would be shocked."
...snip...
The F.D.A. employs only about 1,750 food inspectors at ports and domestic food-production plants. There are so few inspectors that most domestic plants get a visit from an F.D.A. inspector only once every five to 10 years, Mr. Hubbard said. Unlike meat-processing plants overseen by the Agriculture Department, foreign food-production plants are not regularly monitored by the F.D.A.
...snip...
Otherwise, with the food-safety inspection system clearly overwhelmed, other countries will increasingly look at the United States as a dumping ground for substandard food shipments, Mr. Hubbard said.
"The word is out," he said. "If you send a problem shipment to the United States it is going to get in and you won’t get caught, and you won’t have your food returned to you, let alone get arrested or imprisoned."
I'll chalk this up as yet another failure of Republican rule and their inability to protect and serve the citizens of our country.
Enjoy your lunch. But only if its locally grown.