Recently, Mattel, Inc. recalled 9.3 million Chinese-made toys, which included Barbie, Polly Pocket, Tanner play sets, Batman, One Piece Triple Slash Zolo Roronoa action figures, Doggie Day Care and "Cars" movie items.  This recall followed one two weeks earlier of 1.5 million Fisher-Price infant toys worldwide; all were made in China. The nation’s largest toy-maker’s recall was due to lead-paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed, as well as other hazards to children.  It warned that more toys could be ordered off store shelves because of lead paint.

Many of the magnetic toys were purchased as early as 2003. Included in the lead paint recall were popular characters such as Dora the Explorer, Big Bird, Elmo and other Sesame Street characters; these toys reached stores this spring and summer.

Mattel chief executive Bob Eckert apologized to the Chinese that made the toys but did not address American parents and children who may be victims of lead tainted toxic toys.  To Americans he only said, "We test our toys at a very high level.  But there is no guarantee that we will not be here again and have more recalls.  "The series of recalls so far this year has involved not just Mattel, but millions of pieces of children's jewelry, and Thomas & Friends trains made by RC2 Corp. 

This June, RC2 recalled about 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys sold in the United States from January 2005 to June 2007.  All were imported from China and were recalled because of toxic lead levels.  Earlier in March 2006 Mega Brands Inc. recalled 3.8 million Magnetix magnetic building sets that contained tiny magnets. One child died and four others were seriously injured after swallowing the magnets.

Also back in 2003, Toys "R" Us Inc. voluntarily recalled 50,000 lead-laden sticks of sidewalk chalk. However again in March of 2007, Toys "R" Us voluntarily recalled about 128,700 military toys produced by Toy Century Industrial Company Ltd. of Hong Kong that were found to contain toxic levels of lead paint.

Wal-Mart’s recent toy recall could be a real challenge for parents, because the retailer isn’t giving very much information about the defective toys.  Wal-Mart will only describe the toys as "sets of realistic-looking farm animals, jungle animals and dinosaurs."  The recalled toys were sold loose in cellophane bags with no brand name.  The toy sets have a cardboard hanger that includes the price of 88 cents and reads "Dinosaurs," "Farm Animals" or "Jungle Animals."  Wal-Mart won’t say how many such toys were sold, nor will it reveal the name of the manufacturer. 

Dunkin Donuts recalled a toy that could become a choking hazard.  Dunkin Donuts gave away one million "pink and orange glow sticks" from September thru mid-October.  The toy's cap and lanyard can come off and choke a young child.  The lanyard also poses a strangulation hazard.  The glow sticks were manufactured in China.

Greed motivated Mattel two decades ago to become one of the first US companies to move its manufacturing to China.  During this period, the toy industry and other greedy US businesses have moved manufacturing to China in order to cut costs.  Public health experts say Chinese manufacturers repeatedly revert to lead paint regardless of the rules because it is cheap and readily available, and it helps factories meet cost cutting goals.

Emphasizing Chinese greed, lead exposure is a major public-health problem in China. Millions of children there have unsafe levels of lead circulating in their blood.  One 2004 study by researchers at Peking University found 34% of young children in China had toxic lead blood levels that exceed the safety limit set by the World Health Organization.  Scott Clark, an environmental health professor at the University of Cincinnati, found not only are kids in China exposed to toxic levels of lead, but children in India, Indonesia, Ecuador and Nigeria are routinely exposed to toxic levels of lead as well.

A crucial indicator that Chinese companies are button hooking safety inspections is that toys which have passed inspection more than once are later found to contain toxic levels of lead paint.  In Mattel's case, its own inspection process -- praised for being an industry standard -- failed to catch toxic toys before they reached US store shelves.  The loop hole was Mattel allowed manufacturers to perform their own tests.  Trying to cover up the gaming, Mattel said "We performed monthly audits of manufacturers’ toys," which sometimes involved testing samples or reviewing the manufacturer's own testing records, but toxic toys made their way into US homes.

Chinese regulators are a part of the gaming system.  China has laws banning lead paint from consumer products. Lax enforcement of regulatory standards and laws is routine in the dirty business of toy making.  Researcher Clark has tested 38 paint samples from China, representing 11 brands over the past three years.  He found upwards of 25% exceeded the US safety limit of 0.06% for paint.

The US banned the toxin from toys nearly 30 years ago.  Concerned with only their bottom line, more and more greedy toy manufacturers moved their operations to China to take advantage of lax enforcement of safety standards.  These factories are not subject to the same levels of inspection US operations would have to undergo.  As a result of their greed, millions of lead-tainted toxic toys have made their way into the hands of US children.

So, despite exposing an unknown number of children to toxic lead time bombs, it is business as usual in the toy industry.  Joining Mickey Mouse, Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine, a turnout at China’s Toyland’s recent international trade fair left no doubt that it remains the toyshop of the world.  China’s dominance was on display at its biggest toy show, drawing a record 400-plus exhibitors and more than 3,000 registered buyers. Toy exports rose 18% the first nine months of this year. 

The first mainland exhibition since Mattel recalled 21m hazardous items, buyers and exhibitors said, more children than ever are likely to get Christmas presents produced in China’s toxic toyland.  Sean Charlesworth of Whitehouse Leisure, an Essex-based company that supplies plush toys to several big British, retailers reflected toy retailers’ greed, "It is all about price. 

It seems toy recalls are simply a part of doing business.  A nuisance at best, recalls interfere with the important business of victimizing children.  But, one must ask what happens to recalled toys?  Is there anyone in charge of making sure once defective items or lead tainted toys, food, toothpaste, pet food, cosmetics, electronics and automotive parts are identified they are actually destroyed? 

Many believe such items are simply "down streamed," like sub-prime loans, to discount outlets (Family Dollar), flea markets, street vendors and thrift stores in minority communities and third world countries.  With the sheer volume of recalled toys (21 million from Mattel alone), this holiday season in the US black children and their families face a very grave risk that toxic lead tainted toys will show up as cheap bargains.  During the late summer, horrified parents stood helpless as toy after toy recall came across television screens.  News reports gave ticker tape type accounts of million of toys made in China which were being taken off store selves because of lead paint and other hazards.

Then as quickly as it began, news coverage stopped.  Toy makers and retailers began telling consumers that toys on shelves were safe, even though the system that produced the toxic lead tainted toys is the same one that produced the toys on selves today.  Toxic lead tainted toys are ticking time bombs that will explode in children’s brains like IEDs (improvised explosive devices) 5 or 10 years down the road.  Will anyone relate little Johnny’s poor performance in school or his inability to focus to the toxic toy he got from Toys for Tots provided by the City of Atlanta?  Think about it! 

When there is a big drug bust, officials are quick to show the public bonfires of burning marijuana plants or cocaine being destroyed as a means of reassuring the public that they are being protected from these dangerous substances.  However, no such displays have been seen of toxic toys.  It’s as if these deadly toys were sucked up into a black hole and the public has to trust the same culprits that caused the problem to have done "the right thing."  That is tantamount to trusting a fox to guard the henhouse.

This year it seems, parents just don’t get it.  Toy recalls should have been a wake up call! The things parents buy their children are not about fun, they are about making money.  Toy manufacturers have parents addicted in the same way as their children. Toys are about making a profit, which means these gadgets are produced as cheaply as possible.  That is why toy makers move their plants to China in the first place.  It is called "plausible deniability."  

Toy retailers can blame manufacturers in a country, like China, that doesn’t care about American children or their own, while both laugh all the way to the bank.  Loving parents who care more about their children than they do about tantrums and tradition have only one option this holiday season.  They must find alternative gifts to popularized toxic toys for their children.  This will not be an end to celebrating the holiday season. Families may actually get back to why the celebration began in the first place.  There are plenty of gifts one can give other than toxic toys made in China.

Debuted in Washington, DC at the November 2007 March for Justice called by Rev Al Sharpton, Archangel: A Hip Hop Vision of Love and the Battle of Good Verses Evil, a novel by John Burl Smith, was enthusiastically received by participants.

The romance mystery novel presents the historical struggles of several black families as a backdrop to the day-to-day survival story of the hero and heroine.  They lead a small band of community activists in a fight against neo-Nazis trying to take over their neighborhood.  In league with the devil himself, the villains have the power of government aiding them in their plan of genocide.

Fans of drama and suspense will enjoy Smith’s use of historical information as transitions and interludes to set up dialogue for scenes.  An information-driven drama, readers must follow the story for it is impossible to get ahead of the tale and not miss essential clues.

The novel is available at www.archangelworld.com.    Also to help The DISH advertise its "Toxic Toys’" campaign this Christmas, Archangel is being offered as a buy three and get two free special!