China Warns of Alarmism Amid New U.S. Toy Scare

Fears “protectionism”

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1207

(Reuters) – China fears alarm over product safety could stoke trade protectionism, a senior official told visiting U.S. officials as a massive toy recall threatened to intensify consumer worry about the “made in China” brand.

In the latest scare, Mattel Inc. said it was recalling 1.5 million Fisher-Price toys globally because their paint could contain too much lead.

The Chinese product quality watchdog told the U.S. delegation that the country was tackling food and drug safety after a string of health scares have shaken consumer confidence.

“We won’t avoid problems, but we disapprove of ignoring the facts and of alarmism that takes isolated things for the whole, and we oppose trade protection and discrimination,” said a deputy chief of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Wei Chuanzhong, according to the official Xinhua news agency.Wei said disagreements between countries over product quality and food safety should be settled “through dialogue, negotiation, investigation and seeking out the facts.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070802/pl_nm/china_safety_dc_1

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1313

2007-08-02