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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Poison Teeth

posted by on October 31 at 8:00 AM

Stores are pulling fake teeth made for children—meant to the worn in the mouth—off the shelves after tests revealed dangerously high lead levels. Guess what? The teeth were made in China, where they’ve never met a product destined for export that couldn’t be improved with a little lead—and the tests that discovered the lead were conducted by university students, not the government.

The teeth were analyzed by a team from Ashland University in Ohio looking into lead content in children’s products.

“Lead paint is a problem when it’s ingested by a child, so to have lead on an item that is designed to go into the mouth — that’s what’s particularly horrifying about these teeth,” said Dr Jeffrey Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio, the team leader.

“We analysed the paint on the surface of the teeth. The orange teeth were the worst in terms of having six to seven percent lead by weight in the paint,” Weidenhamer said.

“That’s about 100 times the US standard on lead in paint which is .06 percent,” he told AFP.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration is fighting—fighting—Congressional efforts to ban lead paint from toys, beef up enforcement, and expand the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Because, hey, what’s so bad about lead poisoning? Now if fetuses were wearing fake teeth at Halloween, maybe Bush would do something about it—but children born years ago? What’s pro-family about protecting them?

I’ve got the sneaking suspicion that China is attempting to poison the rest of world to give its athletes an edge at the Beijing Olympics.

RSS icon Comments

1

Actually, children in China ain't doin' so hot either.

According to an article in Le Monde yesterday, the number of deformed babies born in China has risen 40% since 2001 in heavy industrial areas. Nationwide, 105 out of every 1,000 babies is born with a birth defect for a total of 1.2 million babies per year, or one every thirty seconds.

Posted by Adam | October 31, 2007 8:10 AM
2

People are living too long in the developed world. I say more lead in the toys, and let's bring back lead face paint. It killed the Roman ruling class quite nicely.

Posted by It's Mark Mitchell | October 31, 2007 8:11 AM
3

Slog is just turning into an inventory of things we should be afraid of. Toys, pit bulls, straight parents, Christians, carcinogenic guts. Taken individually, I understand each of them, but together it's just a weird litany of fear over here.

Posted by Gabriel | October 31, 2007 8:20 AM
4

Sorry, this isn't related to the post, but did you all know that Powell's bookstore's store cat, Fup, has died? She was 19 years old and an icon. I don't know if any of you ever met her or heard of her adventures in the newsletters. Well, just wanted to share the news from down south. For more info. click this link: http://www.powells.com/blog/?p=2568
I hope you don't mind me sharing.

Posted by Kristin Bell | October 31, 2007 8:22 AM
5

Hit the breaks, Dan! A cat is dead!

Posted by Mr. Poe | October 31, 2007 8:31 AM
6

@ #3:

And Republicans.

Don't forget the Republicans.

Posted by Wolf | October 31, 2007 8:33 AM
7

I did not intend to kill Fup.

My husband was was trying to put out the fire he started on my mothers dead body and it make me want to vomit but I was wearing lead soaked fake teeth at the time and the puke was stuck in my mouth so it couldn't possibly have been my fault that I strangled the cat.

Posted by patrick | October 31, 2007 8:37 AM
8

China's manufacturers aren't necessarily more unscrupulous than their U.S. counterparts, they just get caught more often.

Posted by Greg | October 31, 2007 8:46 AM
9

Don't blame China alone. Point the fingers to the relentless pursuit of lower prices demanded by the consumers and retailers. You think "cheap" stuff made in China will be any safer were they made in another third world countries where many environmental and labor regulations are lax or next to none?

Posted by kitana | October 31, 2007 8:46 AM
10

@3 don't forget concrete...scaaary concrete.

Posted by Westside forever | October 31, 2007 9:04 AM
11

I'm so horny for Fup right now.

Posted by dead cat fetish | October 31, 2007 9:16 AM
12

Dan, if China wanted to target athletes from other countries for 2008, they would be exporting lead-poisoned condoms, not children toys.

Posted by Vitamin.D.Deficiency | October 31, 2007 9:40 AM
13

THIS is why I don't dress up for Halloween. Sweet Moses.

Posted by Michigan Matt | October 31, 2007 9:48 AM
14

a US company contracted with the Chinese one to create those teeth. If the contract didn't specifically exclude lead, then no one's to blame in China. just another day at the office in global capitalism.

i can't wait for Peak Oil to end shipments of utter shite from Asia.

Posted by maxsolomon | October 31, 2007 9:59 AM
15

@7 - The talent coordinator for Ellen Degeneres would like to speak with you on line 1....

Posted by Wowza | October 31, 2007 10:01 AM
16

@3 - The Slog crew does indeed seem a bit, um, overexcitable these days. I wonder if they're going to get all freaked out next summer when headlines will start routinely popping up in the news about shark attacks at beaches, as they do pretty much every summer in recent years. OMG SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!11111

Posted by tsm | October 31, 2007 10:20 AM
17

Of course China is trying to kill us all. Why wouldn't they? Make a mint selling us poisoned products, take over our national economy, ... who needs nukes? They're probably really happy about Fup too. And my pet mouse that died last week. Meanwhile we spend our brazilians on a pointless patch of desert in the middle east.....China=Some smart little devils.

Posted by M | October 31, 2007 10:23 AM
18

@16,

Nah. It's too cold to swim in the ocean up here. Seattlites are safe from sharks. Now brain-eating bacteria in ponds and lakes, that's another story.

Posted by keshmeshi | October 31, 2007 10:23 AM
19

Is everything in China made of lead? Lead seems to have more uses than Arm and Hammer baking soda.

Posted by Bont | October 31, 2007 11:06 AM
20

@ 8: What US counterparts? Are there any US manufacturers left?

Posted by Mike in MO | October 31, 2007 11:43 AM
21

Fuck, I didn't notice till I was done eating them, but my smoked oysters were 'farmed raised' and otherwise made by Pacific Friend in China. Is there such a thing as Lead Fever? Fuck China. Oh, and please don't call in G-Dub's loan.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | October 31, 2007 12:05 PM
22

Cats shouldn't be in bookstores. Cats STINK, and many people are allergic. I can't go in Twice Sold Tales because of the catshit-and-fur smell.

Posted by Fnarf | October 31, 2007 1:13 PM
23

People that are allergic to cats are crybabies and don't deserve to enter bookstores that are nice enough to have kitties.

Posted by Mike in MO | October 31, 2007 1:36 PM
24

@23: I agree! heh. Cats rock! And they don't smell like catshit and fur!

Posted by Kristin Bell | October 31, 2007 9:47 PM

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