Made in China

First they poisoned our pets. Now it's our children:

WASHINGTON - Mattel announced recalls Tuesday for 9 million more Chinese-made toys, including popular Barbie, Polly Pocket and "Cars" movie items, and warned that more could be ordered off store shelves because of lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed.

The recalls came nearly two weeks after Mattel Inc., the nation's largest toy-maker, recalled 1.5 million Fisher-Price infant toys worldwide, which were also made in China, because of possible lead-paint hazards for children.

The government warned parents to make sure children are not playing with any of the recalled toys.

Tip of the iceberg. If you've taken the PATH train across the Jersey Meadowlands you've seen the sky-high stacks of China Shipping containers. What's in them isn't always what's on the shipping manifest. Chinese manufacturers & their American importers routinely mislabel shipments to get around what few import restrictions are still enforced. But that's not enough to satisfy the lust for profit. American toymakers - not many left, I suppose - have to obey stringent & ever-changing safety regulations. But who's watching China? Where were Mattel's on-site inspectors?