Consumer Safety Summit Unlikely to Bring Progress, Say Some

Chinese officials responsible for overseeing product safety are in Washington today meeting with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Experts have expressed doubt that the meeting will yield much progress, perhaps because the CPSC seems to be living in a state of total denial. Nonetheless, the doubtful outlook only reiterates the need for retailers and other importers to take responsibility for products from China.

U.S. and Chinese officials to meet on safety issues [Reuters via International Herald Tribune]

U.S. and Chinese officials meeting this week after months of recalls of lead-tainted Chinese toys, defective tires and other unsafe products are unlikely to make a breakthrough, according to experts.

The consumer safety talks on Monday and Tuesday overlap with separate meetings on meat and poultry standards and food safety between officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and their counterparts at the Chinese health and farm ministries.

As timely as the two countries’ consumer agency meetings appear to be, experts are not expecting major changes.

“Manage your expectations, because both organizations, while very dedicated and very serious, face limits as to what they can do,” said Drew Thompson, a China expert at the Nixon Center.

The Sino-U.S. Consumer Product Safety Summit brings together the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and China’s General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, as well as representatives of American companies that import toys, fireworks and cigarette lighters from China.

In the wake of toy recalls - the latest a Mattel recall of more than 800,000 toys that contain excessively high levels of lead - U.S. lawmakers and critics have highlighted budgetary and staff weaknesses of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Other Chinese export alerts have focused on toothpaste, animal food ingredients, tires, eels, seafood and cough medicine.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a $63 million budget and a full-time staff of about 400 people to monitor billions of dollars’ worth of goods. Legislation is in the works to strengthen the agency.

While less is known about China’s debate about fixing holes in product safety procedures, analysts see the same law enforcement problems that hamper Beijing’s efforts to tackle woes such as counterfeiting and pollution.

“On the surface of it, it’s certainly a good thing to try to get the cooperation of the Chinese government,” said Donald Mays, a safety expert at Consumers Union, which publishes the product-rating magazine Consumer Reports.

“But a lot of the problems that we have seen with the products coming out of China are based on unscrupulous business practices. And unless the Chinese government is able to enforce their laws, I’m not quite sure that agreements at the top level are going to do the trick.”

Briefing reporters on the talks, a safety commission spokeswoman, Julie Vallese, said Washington had already sent China a firm message on lead paint in toys.

“China itself needs to put plans and procedures in place so that any products that are exported to the U.S. do not have lead paint,” she said.

Thompson, who has worked in China as a food exporter, a health sector analyst and a scholar, said Beijing would in effect need to negotiate with Chinese provinces whatever understandings it reached with Washington.

“Beijing’s role in all policy is to set the strategy,” he said. “The provinces and their subsidiaries are responsible for implementation and enforcement.”