Friday, March 19, 2010


CONSUMER AFFAIRS:
THEY WERE WARNED:
I thought a little item in the previous post deserved emphasis because it has yet to be picked up by the mass media. The present recall of hockey sticks in Canada is not the first such recall. According to an item on the Health Canada website there was a previous recall of "mini-hockey sticks" in 2008. This raises certain interesting questions. Why were further imports of hockey sticks from China not routinely monitored and refused entry before they entered the market ? It isn't as if the problem was a totally new one. How many more such items are floating about the "consumersphere" in this country today ? What exactly is the "coverage" of supposed consumer protection in this country ? How much of the laxity in the regulations is due to an ideological bent to "free trade" and the benefit to importers on the part of our government ? Are there plans to expand the coverage of monitoring in light of this event ? So on and so on and so on. Will the Conservative government once more dodge responsibility in this matter ?

2 comments:

NHBuckeye said...

At what point should consumers take responsibility for themselves? If you don't want to be exposed to potential hazards, simply do not buy products manufactured in China. It is better to have the freedom to choose, to make your own decisions on what risks you are willing to take, as to what you propose which is no freedom at all, being treated like a child by government, and expanding costs and power of government.

mollymew said...

I have obviously never proposed any such thing. I gather that you are unfamiliar with this "anarchist" blog, as you could hardly accuse an anarchist of wanting to "expand the government". If the word "socialist" is what throws you I'd suggest the following Wikipedia article on libertarian socialism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism.

Actually China is hardly the only offender in terms of unsafe products.