thank you for these links. We have very few toys of the kind that are often recalled (plastic, painted) but I have been checking everything we have and am honestly considering getting rid of anything that is both plastic/painted and made in China. The problem is what to do with them! I don't want to donate potentially dangerous toys...but throwing them in the garbage just in case they are dangerous seems wasteful, too.

I think I am just going to be even more careful in the future about what we buy and need to tell others that we won't be accepting certain kinds of toys as gifts---more books please!

Am I over-reacting?

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When I was growing up we always tried to "Buy American" but that was because my dad was a labor organizer for ACTWU (American Clothing and Textiles Workers Union.) Somehow "buying American" to support American labor became passe after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the like. Well here we are, inundated with cheap, affordable toys and now no one wants to buy them. You know, when things were made in America, they were more expensive, because we pay our labor force more and enforce more quality control standards. You get what you pay for.

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Awesome post. Thanks. I've been trying hard to Buy American, which means that I can't even drive PAST Wal-mart (has anyone else noticed that the minute Sam Walton died, the whole "Made in U.S.A." campaign that WM had going died with him?).

It is extremely difficult. Whooda thunk that the quintessential American Product, Levi Jeans, would NOT be made in America. So thanks again for making my job a little easier.

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I buy Canadian made toys even though I live in the US. They have pretty strict standards...more so than the US.

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Thanks for the post. I share your concerns regarding the large number of recalls and warnings we are receiving about toys that are made in China.
I have seen manufactures now advertising their toys as 'Made in USA' (search Amazon for 'Made in USA' to get the idea). It would be great to see a resurgance of locally made products (not just toys!), as I think that corporate greed has caught up with a lot of the manufactures, who are starting to realise that saving every last dollar does not always keen their customers happy.

Ian
http://babyrecommend.com/

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our company has a wide variety of american made toys
www.ourgreenhouse.com

and European too (which also have stricter standards)

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I would like to have other grandparents who buy toys and baby things for there grandchilden to NOT buy them unless they are made in America. If we don't buy the China and other countries toys maybe they will get the message that we want SAFE toys and baby things.

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Here is a very helpful website if you are looking for American made toys:

http://americanmadetoys.googlepages.com/americanmadetoys

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I can't believe the lack of manufacturer attention to this, especially from those that don't make goods in China. If my stuff was made elsewhere I'd post that fact all over my web site and advertising. If I was a retailer, I'd have signs pointing out every toy not made in china as well. Of course, those toys would fly off the shelves.

It's hard to find sites that help you find non-chinese toys. I've found a few, like www.toys-without-china.com, and the site mentioned above. FAO has a country search, but who can afford $300 for a stuffed bear?

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Another thing to remember is that some stuff says "made in America" but what they really mean is "assembled in America." Many or all of the parts can still be made in China and other countries with the "made in USA" label. So read very carefully!

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