[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 440]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMMUNIST CHINA'S TOXIC EXPORTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, what do toys, pet food, jewelry, toothpaste, 
lipstick, and glazed pottery have in common? Well, if these products 
are from China, it's toxic chemical poisoning.
  In 2007, millions of toys were imported to the United States from the 
People's Republic of China, and then they were recalled after it was 
discovered that they contained high amounts of lead paint. Mr. Speaker, 
one of those was Thomas the Tank Engine, and here is a photograph of 
it. It was one of many of the millions of toys recalled; 1.5 million of 
these toys were recalled because they were made in China and had lead 
in them, in the paint that covered these toys.
  Of course, everyone knows that lead poisoning can cause serious 
problems for children, including learning disabilities, kidney failure, 
irreversible brain damage, and anemia. Here in the United States, the 
leading cause of lead poisoning in children used to be old paint, but 
U.S. manufacturers stopped using this toxic ingredient over 30 years 
ago. But despite this ban on U.S. manufacturers, China consistently 
failed to maintain the same level of concern over the health and safety 
of consumers in the United States that it sells products to.
  In 2006, the United States imported billions of dollars worth of 
toys, dolls, and games from China. That was approximately 85 percent of 
the United States' total imports of these products worldwide. And yet, 
between January and December of last year, the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission recalled 17 million Chinese toys, all due to excessive 
amounts of lead. Another 10 million Chinese toys were recalled last 
year due to other dangerous manufacturing defects like loose magnets, 
toxic chemicals on beads, and items that are burn hazards.
  Also, Mr. Speaker, during that same period, the FDA recalled 150 pet 
brand foods from China which were believed to cause the deaths of 
hundreds of pets in the United States; it seems they contained 
fertilizer. So, Chinese products contain lead in their exported toys 
for tots to Americans and contain fertilizer in pet foods that kill our 
dogs. But that's not all, however. The FDA has also recalled tires, 
lunch boxes, toothpaste that had antifreeze in it, and fake drugs due 
to consumer safety and health concerns. This is all from products from 
China. And in all, Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of the recalls issued by the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission last year involved Chinese products. 
This kind of disregard for the well-being of America's consumers is not 
acceptable and should not be tolerated by our government.
  American companies buy these products because they're cheap. You see, 
a person in China gets paid about 67 cents an hour. Even illegals in 
this country won't work for that. And since the 1980s, China has been 
privileged to receive most-favored-nation treatment from the United 
States.
  China is the second largest U.S. trading partner, but most of the 
billion dollars in trade goes to China. It's a one-way street. It's a 
free-trade street for China, and it's all for cheap, dangerous products 
made with cheap, sweatshop labor in China.
  As the second largest U.S. trading partner, China must conform to the 
standards of safety that are required of American companies for the 
well-being of Americans. Even better, why don't American companies buy 
goods that are manufactured in the United States?
  And lastly, Mr. Speaker, Chinese manufacturing companies are 
notorious polluters of their own environment.
  It's time for a day of reckoning with cheap, dangerous communist 
Chinese products. We hear talk of free trade, but what we need is fair 
trade with China, something that's fair to American consumers. 
Americans should look to see if the products they buy are made in 
China. If so, they should ignore those products and look for an item 
made in the United States. What a novel idea.
  And that's just the way it is.

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