'Cheap' Imports from China: Who Pays the Real Cost?

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Recalls of toys and other products have American consumers worried about imports from China.  What about the workers who make them? We hear how constant exposure to toxic chemicals wreaks havoc with health and safety. Who's paying the real cost of "cheap" merchandise? Would Congressional action do any good? Also, Iran responds to new economic sanctions, and the UN's latest Global Environment Outlook says the human population is outrunning the Earth's ability to sustain it.


Workers conduct quality-control checks on tires at the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company factory, 25 July 2007. Foreign Tire Sales, an importer in the US, has been hit by a lawsuit over a fatal accident and has filed an $80 million suit against the company and called for a recall of 450,000 of its tires. The firm has denied there are any problems and China's top quality-control agency also claimed that its own tests have vindicated the company. Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images