Why hasn't our government banned products from china?

I've been on this bandwagon for years, and not just in regards to China. 15 years ago, my three preschool children were all diagnosed with elevated lead levels, and one of them - the one that forever put -everything- in his mouth - had lead levels so elevated that he was a candidate for chelation therapy. The cause? Crayons and modeling clay made in China and Taiwan with high levels of lead pigment in them. Thank heavens that my mother heard something about it on one of her morning talk shows and called me about it (because I know that Jid is ALWAYS eating crayons, she said). My three kids had to have monthly blood tests for a year - for Jid, those blood tests were weekly for months. It was two years before his lead levels were down to normal levels, though they were below the danger levels much more quickly. Imagine the health care costs to that (we had -good- insurance coverage at the time). Even more to the point, we don't know how many of Jid's current problems stemmed from lead damage - but it's costing us more to educate him, too. I understand that there are economic reasons for continuing foreign trade and accepting foreign imports, but we're gambling with our children's health. People are making money on these products - and not just the Chinese. The products are being ordered and imported by American companies - many of them major American companies. Some of those companies are doing business overseas BECAUSE they're not held to the same manufacturing standards that they'd be held to here. I say we go after it with a two-pronged approach - testing products to make sure that they conform to our product safety standards, and penalize the companies that persist in importing unsafe products in some way. How about restricting their ability to import until they start doing some quality control?

The reason? Two words, "ching ching". national and international corporations and lobyysts are so tied in to the congress to do so would mean money and support lost. Sick ins't it? On top of this we have relations to think about, and oh yeh, we owe them like trillions in debt as well. I agrea though, I think they should just get off their arses and seriously rethink our trade policies.

Money makes the world go around, and money has probably been the primary reason America hasn't banned products from China. Personally I'd be happy if we stopped trading and associating with them altogether, although our economy would probably take an even greater nosedive. I'm not too happy with their production of dangerous products OR their treatment of their own citizens.

I was wondering the same thing. I wonder how many health hazards we will have to endure due to their carelessness before our government bans stuff from there. It has become obvious over the last couple years that they are not using the precautions that are needed to keep the public safe and why on earth would the US keep on buying it. It is like saying, "Oh, it's ok that you gave our children lead poisening, killed some of our pets, poisened our toothpaste and chocolate, we'll take 20 million more of those special lead toys!" I personally think we should make a stand and say we will not buy another thing that is not safe, and for a while personally inspect a piece from every single shipment for hazards. It's time they are held accountable for their lack of precautions and disreguard for public safety.

Walmart. That's why. Walmart is the largest buyer of Chinese made goods in the u.s. Spending billions yearly on these products to resale to American consumers. Besides Walmart there are many other small retail stores like dollar shops that sell these items. If there were a ban on these items, they would have to buy from other locations that would charge much more. That means they would have to make up for the costs by raising prices, even cutting jobs. They would lose so much money they might not survive. You think the banks, wall street, and the airlines screwed our economy, those are nothing compared to walmart going down.