Kill The Kid With Chinese Bibs

Consumers questing for cheap products without a care, beware: The Chinese are at it again:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — Certain vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys “R” Us [and Babies "R" Us] stores appear to be contaminated with lead, laboratory tests have shown, making the inexpensive bibs another example of a made-in-China product that may be a health hazard to children.

The vinyl bibs, which feature illustrations of baseball bats and soccer balls and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh characters, are sold for less than $5 each under store brand labels, including Especially for Baby and Koala Baby.

Tests this summer, financed by the Center for Environmental Health of Oakland, Calif., found lead as high as three times the level allowed in paint in several styles of the bibs ... (NYT via Instapundit)

Go ahead, go with the cheap imports for your toddler ... you've got to get your kids ready for our dirty, dangerous world sometime.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are telling us not to make a big deal out of all this:

WASHINGTON (AP) - China blamed a string of problems with its exports on rogue companies on Wednesday and stressed that the overwhelming majority of the food and consumer products it sends abroad are safe.

China has been battered in recent months by reports of safety problems with everything from farmed fish to vehicle tires. The latest came this week, with the recall of millions of children's toys decorated with lead paint or made with magnets that pose a choking hazard.

In a rare news conference, the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy's trade and commerce section told reporters the problems represented individual and isolated cases involving illegal companies.

Baoqing Zhao said his government was taking "resolute measures" to ensure similar problems didn't occur and was meting out fines and prison terms. ...

Zhao also stressed that no country's products are immune to problems, and rattled off a list of U.S. exports to China recently found to have safety issues. His list included poultry, pork, pistachios and pacemakers, along with heavy construction machinery and cotton harvesters. (Breitbart)

As near as I can tell, Zhao provided no documentation of what was wrong with these products, but tell you what: I'll take a US pacemaker over a Chinese one any day, and don't put Chinese pork anywhere near me.