Made in China

With all the recent scares from poisoned pet food, tainted toothpaste, unsafe tires, lead in toys, and contaminated Chinese seafood, is it possible to avoid products that are "made in China?"  Given all the recalls and issues, it's no wonder Americans would be hesitant to use products "made in China".  But the problem is that many of the products we use daily are Chinese exports.

Articles have been written where average consumers have attempted to avoid buying anything "made in China" for one week with little success.  NBC Nightly News just aired a segment today on a family who avoided these products for one whole year.  By the time the year was over, the family was all too ready to embrace products "made in China" again.  The broadcast did highlight the Yiwu Commodity Market, just outside of Shanghai, which is the world's largest supermarket.  This is where many of the world's merchants come to buy stuff to sell to you.  It measures 64 million square feet and houses 40,000 suppliers.  Approximately $320B of goods a year are sold to people around the world often at a bargain due to the cheap labor costs in China.  Americans are certainly addicted to these products that are such a part of their everyday lives.

Items "made in China" make up an incredibly significant percentage of the goods we use.  These include clothes, toys, appliances, heavy equipment, commercial aircraft, laptops (China makes the top 5 brands of laptops) and even food and medicine (garlic, concentrated orange juice, Vitamin B, etc).

So, with the above items in mind, I decided to look at the labels of the most recent items I purchased in the past week.  This is a good sample since I did not plan to write about this when I purchased any of these items.  I have excluded any food products as in many cases they are made locally or are difficult to determine the origin.

1. Sterile pads (I've been using these pads to cover the wound on my ankle) - Made in China

2. Orbit gum - Made in U.S.A.

3. Desk from Costplus World Market - Made in China

4. Crocs (for kids) - Made in Mexico 

5. Furniture touch up pens - Made in China

6. Crayola markers - Made in China 

7. Pencil box - Made in U.S.A. 

8. Power surges - Made in China 

9. Wii Fit (I did just open this last week) - balance board Made in China, game made in U.S.A. or Japan 

10. Kleenex - Made in U.S.A. 

11. Waterproof Adhesive Tape - Made in Thailand 

12. REI kid's fleece jacket - Made in Taiwan 

13. Kid's activity books - Made in Israel 

14. Monitor cable - Made in China 

15. Sharp LCD tv - design Japan, Assembled in Mexico, AC cord/remote control - Made in China 

16. Caselogic DVD binder - Made in China 

17. Memorex CD binder - Made in China

So, you have it, 10 out of the 17 items or 59% were entirely or partially made in China.  I guess if I had purchased more toys and clothes, the number would have been even higher.  In addition, it is important to note that it is often not that clear about the origins of specific ingredients found within the items in nonfood aisles that read "made in the USA".

As long as consumers demand low costs and continue to buy these products, we will continue to have to be aware of the possible safety issues.  It does make me wonder whether the pads are as "sterile" as they should be or if the pens I bought might someday be recalled due to discovery of some unsafe substance that has been added.  I guess I have been forced to be more conscious of the origins of the products I buy.  Today, I do mentally add an additional classification to the items I purchase (by color, cost and now origin).  It will be interesting to see if people are willing to pay more for some of these products if they had more choices.  I will buy something that costs more if it is a better brand or feels/looks more sturdy.  So, if I saw an item that cost more alongside a similar item that was "made in China", I probably would now opt for the more expensive item.  People are willing to pay more for bottled water, organic fruits and vegetables, why not any other consumer durable good?  As a consumer and a parent, I would like to have that choice.  Peace of mind is priceless.