18 Feb 2008

TOYS ‘R’ US Inc. said it will begin phasing out nickel-cadmium batteries, the making of which has caused widespread environmental contamination in China and poisoned hundreds of factory workers.

The announcement is part of a wave of safety initiatives aimed at winnowing out toxins from toys sold in the company’s more than 1,550 retail stores world-wide. In addition to the battery phaseout, the company announced stricter rules on lead content in toy surface coatings and tighter rules on phthalates, a vinyl additive that has been linked to cancer in rats.

Most of the new safety initiatives aim to protect the health of the consumers. The cadmium-battery phaseout is a sign that toy retailers are also under pressure to consider the health of the workers and citizens of China, where the majority of the world’s toys are made. Nickel-cadmium batteries pose no health threat to American children, but manufacturing the batteries has led to environmental and health problems in China.

Toys ‘R’ Us said it would prohibit the use of cadmium batteries in all toys made exclusively for Toys ‘R’ Us but didn’t say it would ban toys made by other companies that use the batteries. Some toy makers, including Hasbro Inc., have already launched their own bans on cadmium batteries.

The latest Toys ‘R’ Us safety push comes as American toy makers and retailers are trying to reassure consumers about the safety of their products, and get ahead of proposed regulations that could tighten toy-industry restrictions after recalls last year. Proposed legislation includes an overhaul of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that would strengthen its enforcement authority.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced stricter guidelines on lead content and phthalates in toys last week, and companies are exploring alternatives to polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a type of vinyl that consumer advocates say contains dangerous chemicals.

Nickel-cadmium batteries, a type of rechargeable battery commonly found in remote-control cars, power tools and cordless phones, are safe to use. But in recent years, hundreds of workers in China who assemble the batteries at factories have been exposed to unsafe levels of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal linked to kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease. In addition, cadmium runoff from battery factories has leached into water and soil, and dozens of studies have found it in unsafe levels in vegetables grown in Chinese soil. Disposing of the batteries is another concern, since they are too toxic to throw in landfills and must be recycled.

The health and environmental consequences of nickel-cadmium batteries were the subject of a page-one story in The Wall Street Journal last month that profiled Wang Fengping, a 45-year-old Chinese engineer who is suffering from kidney failure after working for years at a factory that produced toys for multinational companies. The company where she works, GP Batteries International Ltd., a Singapore-listed unit of Hong Kong-listed Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Ltd., ceased production of nickel-cadmium batteries in 2004, when hundreds of workers were found with unsafe levels of cadmium in their bodies.

There are cleaner alternatives to nickel-cadmium batteries, including nickel-metal hydride batteries. But nickel-cadmium batteries are still used in the U.S. because they are the cheapest ones available, knocking about $1.50 off the price of an average toy. The batteries account for about 3% of world-wide battery sales.

Jane Spencer

On February 13, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, some 700 workers at the Panyu Li Chang Footwear Co. Ltd in Panyu district of Guangzhou City returned from their New Year holiday. They were expecting to receive their back wages ? estimated to be around 2,000 Yuan per worker and resume work. Instead, they found that the owner had stolen their wages, closed the factory and sold all the equipment. The gates to the factory and their living quarters were locked. Dozens of long-term workers discovered that the owner had not paid their social insurance and other entitlements for around ten years. Others found that payments had not been made for the last nine months despite being deducted from their monthly wages.

In an attempt to seek justice, approximately 400 workers peacefully walked from the factory to the Guangzhou Municipal government offices. The police stopped the workers and detained about 50 of them. Five were formally arrested and detained on criminal charges for illegal assembly and demonstration.

Please take action today to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the five workers who spontaneously and peacefully walked with their fellow workers to report the factory owner?s crime and call on the authorities for help.
http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-03-17.htm#action

According to the report in the Panyu Daily, on February 28 the five workers were forced to stand on a podium while their arrests were publicly announced. Jian Xi Bo, the district standing committee and secretary of the politics and law committee, was reported to have said that workers who use road or bridge blockades to express their discontent will not be protected by law. The walk to the government offices, however, was both spontaneous and peaceful. The workers should not be penalized for blocking traffic since this was the inevitable consequence of the fact that so many workers were robbed and evicted by the factory owner in one day.

It is time for China to stop its systematic repression of internationally recognized human rights, particularly freedom of expression and freedom of association. The ability of workers to engage in dialogue with employers and openly express their grievances is a fundamental part of a just society.

Go to http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-03-17.htm#action

Or send letter to:

Guangzhou Municipal Government
1 Fu Qian Road Guangzhou City,
PRC 510032
Fax: 00-86-20-83123518
Email: web@gzgo.gov.cn

President Hu Jintao
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing City, PRC, 100017
Fax: 0086-10-64729863
Email: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn