China: A two-year-old boy ran with a plastic six-centimetre nail clenched in his teeth, when he tripped and fell on his face. The nail shot down his throat and formed an air-tight plug in his trachea. Although an ambulance officer managed to dislodge it with the help of a pair of pliers, the boy was pronounced dead.
The nail was part of Playskool Tool Benches sold in American retail chains - one of 20 billion toys that China exported in 2006.
But according to the Chinese toy makers, they are nqt the ones to blame. The toy nails that caused the boy's death were produced in accordance with the specifications of a US multinational company. With the Mattel recall in . August and September 2007, of about 20 million Chinese-made toys, 90% of the toys were recalled not because of the toxic levels of lead paint, but because of dangerously designed magnets that could come loose. As in the Playskool case, it was the design that was defective, not the manufacturing.
A report from the University of Western Ontario ("Toy Recalls: Is China the Problem?") found that 76% of recalls since 1988 are attributable to design flaws, as opposed to manufacturing defects.
Still the whole media frenzy prompted the Chinese government to impose a product safety regime to protect its own citizens-those who are injured or killed by products that are unfit for exporting
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 2007
Asian Casualty Report 10th Edition June 2008 – Gen Re
The nail was part of Playskool Tool Benches sold in American retail chains - one of 20 billion toys that China exported in 2006.
But according to the Chinese toy makers, they are nqt the ones to blame. The toy nails that caused the boy's death were produced in accordance with the specifications of a US multinational company. With the Mattel recall in . August and September 2007, of about 20 million Chinese-made toys, 90% of the toys were recalled not because of the toxic levels of lead paint, but because of dangerously designed magnets that could come loose. As in the Playskool case, it was the design that was defective, not the manufacturing.
A report from the University of Western Ontario ("Toy Recalls: Is China the Problem?") found that 76% of recalls since 1988 are attributable to design flaws, as opposed to manufacturing defects.
Still the whole media frenzy prompted the Chinese government to impose a product safety regime to protect its own citizens-those who are injured or killed by products that are unfit for exporting
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September 2007
Asian Casualty Report 10th Edition June 2008 – Gen Re
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