@Risk

Last Monday, after nearly a week of talks in Beijing, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)and China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) agreed to increase efforts to boost consumer safety…again.

This third biennial summit comes on the heels of several recent scandals involving dangerous –even deadly –products made in China.

Fortunately, both organizations say the new plan is to focus on the supply chain. The CPSC wants to work with Chinese manufacturers and U.S. importers to build U.S. safety requirements into products before they reach U.S. ports.

“A systematic improvement of practices in the supply and distribution chain will be the most effective means of enhancing product safety,” the agencies said in a joint statement released by the US side.

Specifically, last week’s safety summit shined the spotlight on toys, all-terrain vehicles, electrical products, lighters and fireworks.

Earlier this year, an investigation found nearly half of the clothing and a third of the furniture made for children in the southern province of Guangdong were unsafe. The China Daily reported that many products contained high levels of harmful chemicals, such as formaldehyde and other potentially toxic heavy metals (lead, cadmium and chromium).

There’s excellent coverage from the Beijing meeting at the CPSC blog.