More than 20 million toys were recalled in 2007 due to unsafe levels of lead alone, not to mention other possible safety violations. Unfortunately, all the United States can do is shout its frustration and hope that the Chinese voluntarily change their practices. With no productive capacity to produce our own toys, the United States is dependent on what goods it can import from China regardless of health and safety concerns

The United States has become dependent on China for so much of our daily consumption that we are almost forced to accept their shortcomings as a standard risk. There are some things the consumer can do to avoid buying contaminated merchandise. On the other hand, avoiding Chinese merchandise altogether may be all but impossible in most cases