Groups to Call for Toy Safety Hearings into Recalled Chinese-Made Goods Sold at Wal-Mart

The following press release was issued today by Wake Up Wal-Mart:


Groups to Call for Toy Safety Hearings into Recalled Chinese-Made Goods Sold at Wal-Mart

Parents Across the Country Are Making Their Lists and Checking the Label Twice Before Buying from Wal-Mart, the #1 Importer of Chinese Products

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2007

Washington, DC – In the wake of a recent wave of toy recalls, WakeUpWalMart.com in conjunction with leading consumer and environmental groups, and Wal-Mart Watch today sent a letter to Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), asking him, as chair of the Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade & Tourism, to call for hearings on Wal-Mart’s pressure on Chinese suppliers.

More than 70 percent of goods on Wal-Mart shelves come from China, making it the #1 importer of Chinese products. If it were a country, the retail giant would be China’s sixth largest trading partner, ahead of Germany and England.

The world’s largest retailer also controls roughly one-third of America’s toy market, making it the number one seller of toys in the United States. Wal-Mart is the #1 customer for each of the four companies that have issued major toy recalls in 2007. These four companies—Mattel, Hasbro, RC2 Corporation, and Graco - have recalled a combined 13 million toys in the past 10 months.

“Wal-Mart has long had the economic power and a unique responsibility to demand stricter safety standards of its Chinese suppliers,” said Meghan Scott, spokesperson for WakeUpWalMart.com, which has more than 405,000 members across the country. “Instead, Wal-Mart has continually put its bottom line ahead of our children’s safety. When huge retailers, like Wal-Mart, force suppliers to cut costs, they cut corners, and this holiday season, American families are paying the price.”

Leading parent, consumer, and environmental groups have signed on to the letter, asking Senator Dorgan to take a careful look at how Wal-Mart’s narrow focus on the bottom line may be contributing to the recent explosion of unsafe products that threaten our children’s safety.

“Wal-Mart should no longer be allowed to use its political power to shift blame to suppliers and avoid taking responsibility for its role in the massive toy recalls,” said David Nassar, Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director. “Our nation’s current toy safety issues are a direct result of Wal-Mart’s relentless demands on suppliers to cut costs at any price, putting our children at risk.”

“The National Consumers League believes that intense pressure from toy retailers like Wal-Mart to continually shave costs on the manufacturing side may have contributed to the diminished quality and safety of the toys that American consumers buy,” said Sally Greenberg, head of the National Consumers League. “We urge Congress to take a closer look at this issue and consider what can be done to protect consumers, especially children, from the consequences of this relentless pressure on toy manufacturers.”

Read the letter to Senator Dorgan.

Posted by Eric Bull on Wednesday, December 05, 2007

COMMENTS

matt we feelin the heat i got to say my ass is a flamin and i know you got a rear thats sizzlin too.just thinkin that maybe next time we can ditch together in the freezen section at your favorite wm.we doin good matty baby.be cool and i’m always your tool.work with me.

student of matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Wednesday, December 05 at 05:18 PM

I’m speechless, I just can’t comprehend anyone writing something that stupid.

Sick of WM in
Wednesday, December 05 at 09:57 PM

i cant believe how stupid and naive you are sick of everyone else sells stuff from china yet thats no big deal to you.walmart does too and you bitch.explain that.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Thursday, December 06 at 05:07 AM

Since WalMart is #1 in all the Chinese junk that is imported into the United States, it is no big surprise that WM also symbolizes Waste Management.

Soupy Sales in
Thursday, December 06 at 08:43 AM

Matthew WM sells merchandise made in China so why is it you support them and protest the other retailers for doing the same thing? You have asked me at least a dozen times why I only complain about WM and I’ve answered that question every time, why do you keep asking? But you Matthew have yet to answer why you support WM and protest the others. I’ve already stated that I think all retailers should not buy merchandise from the companies with all the toy recalls, I never said it was just WM, but WM leads the way in illicit activities which is why most people including myself are going to protest them first. Now Matthew please stop asking the same question over and over and answer the questions asked to you for once.

Sick of WM in
Thursday, December 06 at 10:31 AM

Mathew—Wal-Mart sells tens of billions of dollars worth of dollars of goods from China and they have little to no quality check. Wal-Mart actually accounts for 11% of all U.S. imports from China.  So they’re actually passing on the risk with the savings.

Wal-Mart is by far the worst offender.

Boomer22 in Boomer County
Thursday, December 06 at 12:17 PM

Great point Boomer but you have a better chance of getting a dead bird to understand that point than Matthew. He is just incredibly stupid and refuses to believe anything bad about WM. His whole reasoning for loving WM so much is their lower prices.  Of course WM is going to have cheaper prices so that morons like you Matthew will overlook their major faults. Cheaper isn’t always better and thats WM’s way to bring in the suckers.

Sick of WM in
Thursday, December 06 at 12:38 PM

Sick of WalMart: I guess we could draw an ANALogy between WalMart and WalMatt- If we quit buying the tainted crap they’re selling,then they’ll either go away, or clean up their act and begin to behave responsibly.

ddrb in
Thursday, December 06 at 01:49 PM

Mathew—you just got served

Boomer22 in Boomer County
Thursday, December 06 at 02:05 PM

Hey you walmart fans this company will steal from you if they could get a key to your house. I am Back you buzzards and I am Angry with these wal mart holiday commercials!

rowdy rrooo in wisconsin
Thursday, December 06 at 04:06 PM

Matthew probably gets intimate with himself while watching the WM commercials.

Sick of WM in
Thursday, December 06 at 06:22 PM

i dont give a dam where the stuff is made.i just dont get it why no one ever picks on anyone else besides wm because everyone else including the dollar tree,big lots and grocery stores in america sell a lot of stuff from china too.everyone is quiet as can be always on that and i dont get it.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Thursday, December 06 at 07:04 PM

i dont give a dam where the stuff is made.i just dont get it why no one ever picks on anyone else besides wm because everyone else including the dollar tree,big lots and grocery stores in america sell a lot of stuff from china too.everyone is quiet as can be always on that and i dont get it.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Thursday, December 06 at 07:04 PM

ddrb how about the tainted toys that target,kaybee toys,costco and the stores you regularly patronize selling tainted toys?typical hypocrit pick on wm but not the otheres who were sued by the state of california bud.got an answer on that one?hold the others liable all you morons.it shoots down your credibility and makes you sound stupid and uneducated when you dont.ddrb is very uneducated its obvious and has not done his homework.he only listens to govt and ufcw union propaganda which is always inaccurate.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Thursday, December 06 at 07:09 PM

Boomer22,

“Wal-Mart actually accounts for 11% of all U.S. imports from China.”

Well, according to my math, that leaves 89% going to all the other stores, the ones YOU shop at.

Tommy in
Thursday, December 06 at 09:57 PM

you tell em tommy thats what i try to tell them all along but they are too stupid and dumb to realize that.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Friday, December 07 at 03:25 AM

Matthew you don’t get anything thats said because you are too stupid to comprehend anything.

Tommy - Thank you for making such a fantastic point, you just helped the anti WM cause. Below is a partial list of U.S. retailers that sell imports from china:
Target
Costco
Dollar Tree
Kay Bee Toys
K-Mart
Big Lots
Toys R Us
L.L. Bean
Best Buy
Pamida
Sears
JC Penny
Federated Department Stores
Carrefour
Macys
Fingerhut
Radio Shack

Now according to my math since WM accounts for 11% of all U.S. imports from China that would make the stores listed above accounting for only 5% of all U.S. imports from China. And remember this is just a partial list. Now tell me Matthew and Tommy.......WHO IS LEADING THE WAY IN SELLING U.S. IMPORTS FROM CHINA??????

WM = 11%
other retailers = 5%

See even you WM supporters prove how bad WM is.......THANK YOU!!!!!!

Sick of WM in
Friday, December 07 at 08:50 AM

sick of why dont you do us all a favor and boycott all those other places you listed that import from china and demand on here they stop importing from china products that were made with cheap labor?.walmart only imports11% 89% of the imports are the others not wm.which proves my point all along and shoots down your top dog mentality bs on wm you claim.89% imports from others and you have no answer on that one.the only thing you can do is character assasanation on others who are honest on here like me who tell it like it is which pisses you off and you cant handle it so you stoop to the lowest level and character assasanate which makes you look and sound like a total ass.i finally got you to come along and mention the truth on the others importing from china.i knew you would wake up and come around and see my point.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Friday, December 07 at 09:03 AM

Can you people believe this arrogant son of a bitch. I will never believe any pointless point you ever try to make you piece of shit. I put it into plain english and you still dont get it. That 89% gets divided up amongst many stores you twit which leaves WM leading the way in selling imports from China. You are trying to make it as if each store is 89%, just damn stupid are you? You and Tommy proved how bad WM is but you support them, how smart is that? You could possibly be the dumbest person in america. If there is ever a show called AMERICAS NEXT TOP DUMBASS you Matthew will win it hands down.

Sick of WM in
Friday, December 07 at 09:16 AM

Ok I call for all anti WM posters on WMW to boycott Matthew. I say we also boycott WMW unless they boot Matthew from the site. Strength in numbers, lets get this done. Nobody acknowledge the existence of Matthew Vantress and everyone refuse to post unless Matthew is banned from WMW. We can do this people.

Sick of WM in
Friday, December 07 at 09:17 AM

Sick-o,

Really had to dig hard for that list, huh? 

How many beers did it take?

Isn’t Federated Department Stores and Macy’s the same thing?

As for Carrefour - they don’t do business in the U.S.

And there’s a couple dozen others you missed - best to triple-check your facts, then you can come back to play “King of WMW”.

bbrd in
Friday, December 07 at 09:39 AM

And Your Point is What, bbrd?

“As for Carrefour - they don’t do business in the U.S.”

Apparently you didn’t get that memo from the pro Wal-Mart crowd… we’re living in a “global economy” now!

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Friday, December 07 at 10:14 AM

Global economy, huh?  Seems like they’d be able to find a country to import safe toys from, then.  Big props to Wakeup Wal-Mart and you guys for this press release:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/press/article.html?article=1287

Luke in Washington, DC
Friday, December 07 at 11:25 AM

Sick of WM,

You are right, if you count 5% based on the entire business.  The problem with your argument, is SIZE, it is natural to assume, that the larger a business is, the more items it must buy to keep all of the stores supplied, but that percentage per store, may be less than their competitors. Example: If Wal-Mart were to buy 80% of their entire stock from China and say Target bought 90%, which would be the higher percentage?  The fact that WM has 5,000 stores to supply, compared to 400 for Costco, means they would need more items, but not naturally a higher percentage, per store.  Take Dollar General for instance, 80% of Wal-Mart’s products come from China, but Dollar General probably has 95% of their products come from China, not 5%, therefore, if Dollar General were the same SIZE as WM, their percentage would be higher than WM’s.

Tommy in
Friday, December 07 at 11:45 AM

ScrewedbyWal-Mart,

Sickie said (as his lead-in)

“Below is a partial list of U.S. retailers that sell imports from china:”

Get a new pair of glasses, make note of “U.S. retailers”, then come back!

bbrd in
Friday, December 07 at 12:49 PM

Have Nick and RDS formed an alliance here?

ddrb in
Friday, December 07 at 12:49 PM

ddrb - It doesn’t matter anyway, I could list 100 other stores and still WM would be upheld just as always as they are in Tommy’s last post. I knew it wouldn’t do much good to even compare the percentages which is why I just made a partial list.

Tommy mentioned Dollar General but I just saw an article stating that DG was one of the best stores to shop at for safe toys. Maybe he should have used a better example.

Sick of WM in
Friday, December 07 at 03:59 PM

Sick of WalMart: As Mr. Feniman said in earlier posts,it’s futile to attempt to debate a “troll”..(before you started posting,here.) However, the everybody is doing it excuse doesn’t wash with me,personally. If parents refuse to exercise their ability and responsibilty to say NO! to both toy manufacturers AND to their children, when long term health and safety is being compromised -well then, who’s aiding and abetting the corporations and retailers, and willingly putting their children at risk ? Better to let the kiddies cry over not getting one particular toy this year,than the parents crying over the child’s hospital bed or ,God forbid,worse.

ddrb in
Friday, December 07 at 04:53 PM

I just saw an article stating that DG was one of the best stores to shop at for safe toys.

Since it has been said, here, that a person needs sources to back-up their statements/claims, I say this…

...sources, please!

bbrd in
Friday, December 07 at 04:56 PM

Well, according to my math...

You’re math is OK, tommy. It’s you reading cmprehension and logic that are faulty.

You can twist the numbers around anyway you want but Wal-Mart will remain China’s 8th largest trading partner.

What other retailer comes even close?

Ken V in Texas
Friday, December 07 at 05:14 PM

show me you souirces on dollar tree sick of.i see a lot of tte same toys made in china sold at dollar tree that are sold at wm.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Friday, December 07 at 06:19 PM

Sick of WM,

If Dollar General is one of the best places to buy safe toys and most of their stuff comes from China, what would you deduce from that, that China makes safe toys for Dollar General and lead painted toys for everyone else?

Tommy in
Saturday, December 08 at 12:20 AM

makes no sense on that one.china is responsible for making safe products and overseeing this before they sell them off.

matthew vantress in gresham oregon
Saturday, December 08 at 06:12 AM

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