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Harmonization of standards is generally a lie in free trade agreements. China
has strong standards against lead paint, stronger than the U.S.
standards. Indeed, China allows only 90 parts per million (ppm)
in paint, while the U.S. allows 600 ppm. But there is no
enforcement. The rules are written on paper somewhere, but so
what.
Mattel thought they were getting a cheap toy deal from China, and vigorously outsourced. But paint with lead in China is one-third cheaper than unleaded paint. So the manufacturers bought the lead paint.
A nice quote comes from that linked article.
“The
standard doesn’t matter,” said Scott Clark, a professor of
environmental health at the University of Cincinnati. “Remember, in the
Soviet Union during the cold war, they had very high standards on the
books, but they never enforced them. It was just for show.”
Its not just China using the lead paint, it is India and Malaysia too.
Mattel says "its not our fault." But David Barboza reported this quote from an unnamed China source.
“It
depends on the client’s requirement,” she said. “If the prices they
offer make it impossible to use lead-free paint, we’ll tell them that
we might have to use leaded paint. If they agree, we’ll use leaded
paint. It totally depends on what the clients want.”
Mattel's plausible deniability becomes less plausible.
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