US is a "DUMPING GROUND" for Consumer Goods Unwanted & llegal !!!!

[leftchick]

IN MOST OF THE REST OF THE WORLD!!!! China! We have lower standards than CHINA! We Are So fucked. We are truly on our own. I believe we have gone back a century in terms of consumer safety in just a few short years. :cry:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping8oct08,0,4957760.story?coll=la-home-headlines

U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban
Chemical-laden goods outlawed in Europe and Japan are permitted in the American market.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
October 8, 2006

Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is illegal to sell in many countries — even the one where it originated, China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

As the European Union and other nations have tightened their environmental standards, mostly in the last two years, manufacturers — here and around the world — are selling goods to American consumers that fail to meet other nations' stringent laws for toxic chemicals.

Wood, toys, electronics, pesticides and cosmetics are among U.S. products that contain substances that are banned or restricted elsewhere, particularly in Europe and Japan, because they may raise the risk of cancer, alter hormones or cause reproductive or neurological damage.

<snip>

"The dumping problem is concentrated in a few product sectors. But these sectors happen to be really ubiquitous in the everyday lives of Americans. Chemical risks are being spread all over the country in ways that are invisible to consumers," said Alastair Iles, an international chemical policy expert who was a research fellow at UC Berkeley and still works with faculty there on consumer issues.

Last year alone, China exported to the United States more than half a billion dollars' worth of hardwood plywood — enough to build cabinets for 2 million kitchens, a sixfold increase since 2002. Though China sends low-formaldehyde timber to Japan and Europe, Americans are getting wood that emits substantially higher levels of the chemical.

[Bigmack]

1. This is typical....

of the corporate view that runs this country.

No real protection for consumers.

With the rising allergy and asthma rate in the US, protection is more important than ever.

[marions ghost]

2. right

there is no protection for consumers in this country. People need to wake up.

[Warpy]

3. I was wondering why things made in China

from a foot operated tire pump to a kitchen strainer broke within 3 weeks of purchase.

I had attributed it to monkeywrenching by exhausted workers and/or a lack of quality control.

Now it seems that they do have quality control. The US gets the rejects because they know we're over a barrel. We don't make competing products.

That explains so very much.

[Little Star]

4. This government, by negligence, is killing more Americans than

the terrorists are. So are we, as a people, just afraid of who and how we are going to die? Is one way more dead than another? Man, Americans are gullible. Our own government is allowing corporations to kill us, our children and our planet. How friggin sad! All due to GREED!!!

[jmowreader]

5. I hate to say it, but that Chinese plywood is really nice

I have a skid of this plywood sitting on the floor right now. It is NICE, man. It's got a poplar core with no voids in it, and the face plies, which I believe to be either oak or ash, are thick and defect free. Plus, it's REALLY cheap. It does, however, have that "dead body" smell one associates with formaldehyde.

And the strange thing is, all the rest of the plywood this plant makes uses polyurethane adhesive, not urea-formaldehyde.

Using PUR adhesive instead of urea-formaldehyde would raise the materials cost of the finished product, but the plywood in question retails for about $26 per sheet. It's dirt cheap and, even if the PUR adhesive raised the price by a dollar a sheet, it would still be less expensive than the rest of the plywood I sell.

Now check this out: My brother in law works at the Potlatch particle-board plant in Post Falls, Idaho. They changed from urea-formaldehyde resin to polyurethane and their total cost to make a sheet of particle board went down because of energy savings--PUR cures without added heat, whereas UF is a thermosetting resin. Probably the same thing would happen with plywood. When they make plywood they press it under extreme heat. They'd still need to press it but the need for heat would disappear.

[IChing]

6. Look who they just appointed to the EPA at Dow Chemical executive.

Pesticide exec to lead regional EPA office



SEATTLE (AP) -- A woman largely unknown to environmental and business groups in Washington has been selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office here.

Elin Miller, 46, will serve as regional administrator for the EPA's Region 10, which includes Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.

...

She worked as an executive at Dow Chemical from 1996 to 2004, overseeing public affairs and the global pest-management and Asia Pacific operations, according to an EPA news release. Miller most recently served as president of the North American arm of Arysta LifeScience, a Tokyo-based pesticide maker.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2551108

[katinmn]

7. Our cars don't meet China's environmental standards.

Pretty sick, huh?

[mcscajun]

8. Payback IS A Bitch, ain't it?

For decades our corporations have been unloading products declared unsafe in the US on third world countries, and now, they're returning the favor.