The China
critics are
getting
their voice.
I?m hearing
from them in
my neck of
the woods,
the mattress
arena. To
the long
list of
Chinese
product
problems
apparently
one more
should be
added:
Mattresses.
An
Associated
Press story
earlier this
month said
that a chain
of Dutch-
based
bedding
stores was
recalling
more than
1,300
Chinese-made
foam
mattresses
?amid fears
they were
sprayed with
toxic
insecticide.?
The story
said the
retailer
announced
the recall
after tests
on a
container
holding more
than 700
mattresses
found they
contained
poison,
possibly as
a result of
being
sprayed to
kill
insects. The
exact nature
of the
poison has
yet to be
determined,
the story
said.
Now it is
important to
note that
this story
says nothing
about
possibly
toxic
mattresses
being
shipped from
China to the
United
States. I
have yet to
hear anyone
state,
definitively,
that such
mattresses
have been
shipped to
the U.S.
But that
hasn?t
stopped the
critics from
sounding the
alarm. ?I am
sending this
to you so
that you are
aware,? one
U.S. bedding
executive
said to me,
forwarding
news of the
Dutch
company?s
findings.
?If you do
anything
with it
PLEASE do
not
reference me
or (name of
company
withheld) as
a source.
Very
interesting?..lead
paint, dog
food, now
mattresses.?
Said another
U.S. bedding
exec: ?This
looks like a
really big
story.?
My thought:
It could be,
but it isn?t
yet.
But, having
said that, I
agree it is
certainly
bad news in
general for
those who
import
Chinese
mattresses
to the U.S.
The product
recall news
out of China
lately has
been grim.
?Dangerous
products?
was among
the catalog
of problems
cited in a
cover story
by
BusinessWeek
last month.
?Can China
Be Fixed??
was the
headline of
that story.
The bad news
from China
hasn?t yet
affected
importers of
Chinese
beds, some
leading
importers
recently
told me. But
one said
that could
change if
the drumbeat
of bad news
continues.
And now that
scary story
out of the
Netherlands.
One bad
shipment of
Chinese
mattresses
sent to the
Netherlands
doesn?t
constitute
an
indictment
of the
entire
Chinese
bedding
industry.
Let?s keep
this story
in
perspective.
But it is
more
unwelcome
news for a
country
getting more
than its
share of it
these days.
