Chinese Imports and Product Safety
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Toys, tires, foods and toothpaste have raised questions about the safety of imports from China. Is China trying to clean up its act? What about the demand for cheap products from US companies--and from consumers? Also, stock markets responds to Federal Reserve action on the sub-prime lending crisis and, on Reporter's Notebook, three rescuers have died trying to save six trapped miners. We talk with a world authority on coal mining operations.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission acting Chair Nancy Nord announces the recall of millions of toys manufactured by Mattel Inc. at the commission's headquarters August 14, 2007 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Making News
Fed Moves to Cut the Discount Rate, Lifts Stocks ()
With the sub-prime lending crisis rocking financial markets, the Federal Reserve today cut the so-called "discount rate" by half a percentage point to 5.75%. The Dow Jones, Nasdaq and Standard & Poor's 500 went up. Peter Coy is economics editor for BusinessWeek magazine.
Guests:
- Peter Coy: Economics Editor for BusinessWeek
Links:
Main Topic
Chinese Imports and Product Safety ()
Unsafe tires. Tainted food and toothpaste. Millions of toys with lead paint and tiny magnets. The safety of those products is raising serious questions in the US and, with confidence in the label "Made in China" crucial to that nation's economic expansion, the international safety scare has caught the attention of Chinese officials. After medicines turned out to be fakes, the former regulator of food and drugs was executed. After Mattel recalled millions of his products, a toy maker hanged himself. Factories have been closed amid pledges that safety standards will be tightened. Are American companies as much at fault as their Chinese suppliers? Will consumers pay more for greater safety? What about Chinese consumers and the workers who deal with toxic substances? Is it possible to stop buying products made in China? We talk with a woman who tried it.
Guests:
- Rachel Weintraub: Director of Product Safety at the Consumer Federation of America
- Abigail Goldman: Reporter for the Los Angeles Times
- Bill Primosch: Senior Director for International Business Policy for the National Association of Manufacturers
- Sara Bongiorni: Author and former business reporter
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Search Suspended after Mine Rescue Turns Deadly ()
In Huntington, Utah, underground rescue operations have been halted at the Crandall Canyon mine after three rescue workers were killed. The cause is said to have been a seismic jolt or "mountain bump like the one that trapped six miners 11 days ago. Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Department of Labor, says rescue efforts had been "suspended indefinitely" after the "strongest ground support system" available proved "inadequate." J. Davitt McAteer, who held Stickler's job during the Clinton Administration, is one of the world's leading authorities on coal mine safety.
Guests:
- Davitt McAteer: Former Chief of the Mine Safety and Health Administration
Links:
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