Add another item to the list of product recalls from China. “Ugly Teeth” were pulled from the shelves today because, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), “The surface paint on the teeth contains excessive levels of lead.” (In other trick-or-treating news, the CPSC also recalled Halloween Skull Pails filled with candy a few weeks ago.)
Tainted products like “Ugly Teeth” continue to pop up each week, but what seems to be ignored are the “Chinese workers dying to dispose of millions of tons of our toxic crap.” Terry Allen wrote about the boatloads of toxic e-waste the United States dumps into China each year. And if you thought lead-painted teeth were scary, how about exposing yourself each day “to brain-damaging, lung-burning, carcinogenic, birth-defect-inducing toxins such as lead, mercury, cadmium and bromated flame retardants…as well as to dioxin at levels up to 56 times World Health Organization standards.” Let’s not forget that “some 82 percent of children under 6 around Guiyu have lead poisoning.” Now that’s scary.
By Becki Sholl
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