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At Senator Klobuchar's urging, Senate Commerce Committee Schedules Congressional Hearing on Chinese Toy Recall

Klobuchar held a Child Safety Forum in Minnesota this week to gather information The Commerce Committee will hold its hearing next Wednesday, July 18th in Washington, D.C.

July 12, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced that, in response to her recent request, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold an investigative hearing next week on the safety of consumer products and food imported from China.  Klobuchar serves on the Committee and will participate in the hearing.

Just a few weeks ago, Klobuchar called for a Congressional hearing to investigate reports of unsafe toys coming from China and what can be done to safeguard children from potentially harmful products. On Monday, Klobuchar convened a Child Safety Forum in Minnetonka, Minnesota to hear testimony on concerns about the safety of toys from China. 

“It is clear that our current system is broken when it comes to keeping toxic toys out of the hands of our children.  We need to understand how the system has broken, so that we can take steps to repair it.

“The child safety forum I held this week clearly identified the need to ensure a much stronger, more effective and accountable system to protect American consumers from dangerous and defective products. I am encouraged to see that the Commerce Committee is holding this important hearing so we can get to the bottom of this problem and fix it,” said Klobuchar.

Last month, news reports revealed that all of the 24 toys recalled by the U.S. came from China and 60 percent of all recalls across the board for any product were made in China as compared to 36 percent in 2000. 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and railroad sets were recalled last month when they were found to be coated with possible poisonous lead paint.

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