Quality Opportunities

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys -- including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters -- because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.
The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.

As the costs of these problems are internalized, the cost of doing business in China increases. As more of this comes out, I become more convinced that the US government should legislate standards that US importers must meet in order to get their goods out of customs.

This provides opportunities for Chinese and US entrepreneurs anxious to break into the testing industry both at home and abroad (this doesn't only apply to China but to Mexico and others). It also puts the burden of testing on importers rather than on the US government.

Most countries already have a number of testing requirements for various industries (wood flooring, weights and measurements, etc). If we broaden that requirement to more industries - children's' toys, food, etc) it drives up the cost of doing business outside the US and provides a safety mechanism for US consumers.

Improving product quality would provide immeasurable benefits to China as well. As a general rule, the quality of the products shipped overseas exceeds the quality of the products Chinese manufacturers sell to local consumers.