Reply #1: P.S.

[orleans]

transcript from dobb's show

"And anger and frustration in the first Congressional hearing on the safety of Chinese toy imports. The lawmaker who chaired that hearing, Dick Durbin, is our guest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PILGRIM: Alarming testimony on Capitol Hill today about serious failures in product safety. Now, Senators demanded answers and change from toy makers, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, retailers and Communist China.

Christine Romans has the report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over the course of three hours on Capitol Hill, a litany of safety failures. It is not illegal to sell recalled toys. Fines are too small to be a deterrent. The acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission couldn't say what percentage of imported toys is even inspected. She tangled with Senators over whether her agency has been aggressive enough.

NANCY NORD, CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION: Our very tiny agency has been trying to work aggressively within our statutory constraints and within our resource constraints.

ROMANS: And there are concerns that safety promises have not been kept.

THOMAS MOORE, CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION: In August of '98, the toy manufacturers of America pledged to eliminate lead from their products. Yet, here we are nearly 10 years later, facing the same problems.

ROMANS: Even the world's largest toy maker, with a reputation for safety, admits it couldn't control its Chinese supply chain.

ROBERT ECKERT, CEO, MATTEL: Our systems were circumvented and our standards were violated. We were let down and we let you down.

ROMANS: Mattel says 65 percent of its toys are made in China. Toys"R"Us' CEO says 75 to 80 percent of the dolls, trains and action figures it sells are made in China. Both companies laid out strategies for protecting consumers.

But Senator Sam Brownback said manufacturers are asking for trouble by concentrating so much production in China -- a developing economy with lower standards.

ECKERT: We impose our standards regardless of what someone else does.

SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: But it didn't work.

ECKERT: Well, in the case of -- you're speaking specifically to lead paint testing...

BROWNBACK: Yes.

ECKERT: We didn't test sufficiently to test catch that product.

ROMANS: Still, the industry strongly defended its record and its Chinese suppliers.

CARTER KEITHLEY, PRESIDENT, TOY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION: Toy-related injuries in the U.S. are extremely rare. Our proposals are not specific to toys made in any particular area of the world.

ROMANS: Yet hundreds of millions of dollars of toys have been recalled just in the past few months.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROMANS: Sally Greenberg from the Consumers Union testified toy manufacturers have been too trusting of their Chinese suppliers. She says that is dangerous in a country with no free press, endemic corruption and no real regulatory framework -- Kitty.

PILGRIM: These lapses in toy safety are indefensible any way you look at it.

Thanks very much.

Christine Romans.

That brings us to the subject of tonight's poll -- who do you believe is responsible for the safety of U.S. toys, the U.S. government, American toy companies, Chinese manufacturers?

Cast your vote at loudobbs.com.

We'll bring you the results a little bit later in the broadcast.

Senator Dick Durbin, who chaired today's hearing on toy safety, joined me earlier. And I asked him if bureaucracy, incompetence, lack of responsibility on the part of our government agencies are making the problem worse.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I was really disappointed with the answers to the questions that I asked of Chairman Nord at the Consumer Products Safety Commission. They were very specific about the standards of safety that we're expecting from the Chinese.

You know, we know that this agency has been notoriously understaffed. It doesn't have the resources, the laboratory, even the building that they need. But equally important, they need leadership from the commission, where people are aggressively setting out to protect American families and consumers. I didn't see that today.

PILGRIM: You know, speaking of the laboratory, you asked Ms. Nord to describe the conditions. The CPSC laboratory is in utter disarray.

Do you think that they're capable of keeping American consumers safe with this kind of a chaotic situation in their labs?

DURBIN: I can just tell you that what they call a laboratory wouldn't pass any high school laboratory test. It is basically a work table with toys stacked up on it. One man -- one person has a responsibility for the safety of all the toys imported into the United States of America -- trillions of dollars worth of products.

And the bottom line is this agency has not been well funded. It has not been taken seriously. And, sadly, it's been populated by a lot of people who want to look the other way when we run into these safety issues.

PILGRIM: You know, I was also struck by Mr. Eckert's testimony, the head of Mattel. And he acknowledged a few of their vendors violated the rules. That seems like a gross understatement, given the magnitude of the recalls that have gone on.

DURBIN: Well, I'll say this about the toy industry and toy retailers. I've been encouraged by the response. You know, it is not uncommon to run into corporate denial, a kind of a defensive posture, tossing around phrases like "junk science" and dismissing the charges.

The toy industry and the toy retailers have taken the opposite approach. They've accepted the challenge and they know they have to, because American families and consumers need to have a dose of confidence before they are going to turn around and buy toys for this holiday season.

PILGRIM: We certainly applaud your efforts in holding these hearings. But it really is very glaringly obvious to the American public that lead has been banned in toys for 30 years and yet it's still turning up in American-produced toys.

How is that defensible, by any toy maker?

DURBIN: It's indefensible. For 30 years, we've have banned lead, and yet we still find it, primarily in products coming out of China. And I have to say, it isn't because lead paint is cheaper in China, it's because their workers are paid so little.

There are no environmental standards. There are very few government inspectors. And so as a result, you may get a cheaper toy, but it's going to be made under conditions which most American families wouldn't want to see.

PILGRIM: Senators Pryor and Klobuchar today have suggested perhaps legislation banning lead. But we already have rules in effect.

So would this do anything different? DURBIN: It's almost impossible to ban all lead. But I think establishing federal standards -- strict standards -- is a step in the right direction. And Senator Pryor of Arkansas is moving toward a reauthorization of the Consumer Products Safety Commission. We need to put some teeth, some bark and some bite in this agency, as Sally Greenberg at Consumers Union said.

We have to give them the authority and the tools and then demand the people to enforce the law.

PILGRIM: We have also been talking with officials in China. And the head of China's consumer product safety agency today vowed that the toys made in China will be safe in the Christmas season. We're so close to the Christmas season, some of these toys, presumably, have been manufactured already.

Do you think that the toys from China will be safe this Christmas season?

DURBIN: I can tell you that it's a misleading statement for the Chinese to say that, because the toys that we're likely to see on shelves in this holiday season were made a long time ago. They're sitting in warehouses and on ships. They're on their way to the stores.

What we need to do is to be honest about the toys on the shelves. And that means that the companies, the toy stores, as well as the manufacturers, have to accept the responsibility for testing. They've got to convince American consumers these toys are safe for their kids.

And, unfortunately, they do it in a climate of suspicion.

PILGRIM: Thanks very much for being with us today, Senator Durbin.

Thank you, sir.

DURBIN: Thank you, Kitty.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/12/ldt.01.html