I avoid food from China but some other chinese stuff are built to last so I buy them there.

(industrial engines, agricultural machinery)

I've been trying to avoid Chinese-made products for a long time, but it's extremely hard considering I'm a computer geek. Just about everything is made in China these days.

However, things I'm going to be putting in my body, and things I'm going to be giving to my child will definitely NOT be made in China.

I don't know how you can trust a society that has such horrible labor and environmental practices. We should hold American business owners accountable for what the people in China do for them. If a company imports defective or dangerous products, they should be held as accountable as if they had produced those products themselves in the United States.

And I avoid most Chinese restaurants, but only because none of them around here are very good. (If you're ever in Harrisburg, PA, however, you should definitely visit Hong Kong Ruby.)

China is so polluted/corrupt/unethical, I won't buy any food item that may have originated from there including apple juice made from concentrate (they never say where the concentrate originates), mandarin oranges, canned baby clams (mmm...filter feeders) and anything containing gluten (eg. chicken balls, nuggets).
Chinese manufacturers have been adding lead and other toxins to products for decades and it took this long for the media to address the issue and for North America to finally react. Kind of like the global warming issue.
As far as I am concerned, our federal governments should approve every product that is imported from China - not just for toxins, but also for durability and safety.

Products from all countries are recalled at consumer, retail, and manufacturing levels on a regular basis, even locally. Why is the media using China as a scapegoat?

In my product development experience in Canada, I found it very surprising that each time there is a problem with a product, the chain of blame ends with the factory. Yet it is the consumer, retailer, and the manufacturer/importer who is demanding cheaper prices and shorter timelines with an iron fist. The factory is pressured to meet these demands or lose their business.

The manufacturer/importer is very often willing to risk “not getting caught” to make a few extra dollars or to meet a delivery date. The consumer is infatuated with quantity, not quality. What would happen if the consumer was willing to pay a little more, and purchase fewer products? What would happen if retailers and manufacturers/importers stopped pushing unreasonable time and costing demands?

Faulty products is the outcome of our society’s distorted values.

I've been really making an effort to buy as much US made products as I can but for good quality items, like the new bamboo cutting board I got just this morning, I will still buy "Made in China" if I can't find a US made one.

"China is so polluted/corrupt/unethical"

well look in your own backyard my friend.

OK, the US is less polluted....

Funny how I remember comments and concerns like these about Japan 40 years ago. Look at them today. They learned from their failures, and I will be surprised if the Chinese don't as well.

Our economies are so globalised that you can't help but support China (or any other developing nation with lax standards but hasn't yet been caught,) and it goes much deeper than where your new socks were knitted.

Recently a coworker of mine expressed their desire to boycott Chinese goods in light of the alleged barbaric culling of stray animals ahead of the 2008 olympics. This was just after requesting advice on buying a new low-priced plasma or LCD television from one of the founding big box retailers.

Only a true activist is able to avoid globalisation to the point of making a difference, but at the expense of missing out on the true American Way of Life. I fear only a Kunstler-esque readjustment can undo the changes that have taken place.

I have always avoided made in china.Any time possible.I always look for made in the usa labels.Unfortunately not much is made here now.

Even before the pet food thing.I cooked for my dog.At least i know what is in the food.

The enemy isn't CHINA. The enemy is globalization and greed...if it is anyone, it's America. What does avoiding Chinese restaurants...usually run by Chinese American entrepreneurs do to help the situation? Food is food...and bad food is bad food - don't lump it into this discussion.

where is the "i am chinese, every thing i make is by default" option?

Unless some younger, more progressive types in China change things, they are the enemy. They are currently out to destroy us and people don't see this. The national security threat is way bigger than the environmental one. They can't be compared to Japan as Japan is a much smaller country.

They don't play fair in business, they'll steal your ideas and become your competitor and think nothing of it. They do the same thing on the national level, with the exchange rate and other mechanisms. In the future they'll try to stop and silence us as they get more economic clout. I've lived in China for quite some time and seen firsthand how things work.

As a business owner who gets some products from China, I'm moving any production I can out of China and into other countries and back to the USA even if it costs a little more.

My name is Valvert R. Thompson, VP-Sales with East General Promotional and Packaging Mfg. I read most of these comments with great interest as I have been working for a Chinese factory group www.egpromotional.com for several years. I would like to address several points:

Firstly, the notion that Chinese firms copy Western design is misleading. From personal experience, the Western company (US) has approached us (the factory) with designs they "borrowed" from Google Image or scanned from catalogs asking if we can "make just the same," a question which is usually followed by YES- we can! So, this is obviously not an issue of Chinese factories stealing designs but rather Western (US) firms cheating each other and encouraging the practice. Most certainly, I am not letting the Chinese off the hook, as they are as guilty; however I think it we need to start pointing fingers we should at least look in the mirrors at ourselves (I'm American).

Secondly, the Chinese will produce anything you are willing to buy, at any quality, at any cost. Who wouldn't? I say this to underscore the western world's (e.g. The US) appauling appetite for cheaply produced products. View Headlines such as "Wal-Mart Stampede" for proof [see video http://www.guzer.com/videos/walmart_stampede.php] . The basic is this: cheap is cheap, the cheaper the more inferior. Cheap reduces the probablilty that costly quality control measures will be taken.

The answer is not to buy less Chinese products, but to consume less overall. We (Americans) need to stop China bashing and instead appreciate the fact that we owe a huge deal to China for helping The US to indirectly control inflation while improving the overall-quality of life for poor Americans, who can now purchase TVs, Shoes, Furniture and pay bills too!

Lastly, product recalls happen all the time, here is a sectional list of product recalls issued by the US Product Safety Commission.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/household.html

Thanks,

Valvert R. Thompson
Vice President - Sales
www.egpromotional.com

Okay, first of all, I hope all you people understand just how ridiculous you sound. The Chinese do have a lot of air pollution, and while it is true that they have some unethical ways of getting things done, their government is no more corrupt than our own. If you can't see that then you need to wake up and pay attention.

We have pollution just like they do, and so what if it's US made, you still get the crap in you, all the same you would if you had gone elsewhere. So stop trash-talking China, and start cleaning up where we live, and while you're at it, maybe you could, I don't know....HELP them get better, if you're so outrageousy indignant.