[bekyboo44]

Yeah there is also a new shop opening in DB which will sell organic vege., hopefully they will be locally produced.

[somebodyfamous]

I noticed Great sells some organic produce but it is from China - I always get confused by that. Not sure who is testing those farms.....

[Matty]

The organic shop on Caine rd that Neha mentioned is quite good.
They do have a limited range, but it's great to support local industry, and hopefully the small organic farms will do well here.

i've heard you can also arrange to visit these farms, which would make an interesting excursion for children.
Back home in Oz, we always grew veges in our garden, it's a shame our kids here can't have the same experience.

It's certainly easier to get kids to eat veg that they've picked themselves!

[loupou]

Matty,

Yes, you can go to some of the farms and some even sponsor courses or rent out plots for people to grow their own.

There's also a weekly market outside Revenue Tower & Immigration Tower.

For those in Sai Kung-CWB area, the Lions Nature Education Centre also allows organic farmers to sell on Sundays.

A complete list from the Hong Kong Organic Farming Association:

http://hofa.org.hk/english/farmer_market.html


The Green Earth Society shop in Sai Kung also sells organic produce, as well as more earth-friendly cleaners and so forth.
In fact, I think I'll start a new thread repeating this information called "Green Living in Hong Kong".

[rani]

Mattel announced a Third Recall -

The products are:

* Dream Puppy House™– orange on miniature dog
* Dream Kitty Condo™– brown on miniature cat
* Table & Chairs Kitchen Playset – yellow food on two dinner plates, brown on miniature dog, yellow and orange on potato chip bowl, orange on salad bowl
* Bathtub & Toilet Playset – brown on miniature cat
* Desk & Chair Bedroom Playset – brown on miniature dog
* Living Room Playset (deluxe) – brown on miniature cat
* Living Room Playset (premium) – yellow flower on purse

* GEOTRAX™ Rail & Road System Freightway Transport™– yellow headlights on train car and miniature ladder
* GEOTRAX™ Special Track Pack™ – yellow headlights on train car and miniature ladder
* "It's a Big Big World" 6-in-1 Bongo Band – painted decal on top of clear plastic on drum

http://www.shareholder.com/mattel/ne...904-262639.cfm

[MayC]

Hi, the discussions that have gone on here are very interesting. I have a daughter and I'm terrified too. She chews on her toys from time to time (for the fun of it), even at the age of 3. I buy her lots of Dora, Thomas and Barbie.

At the same time, my husband's family also owns a factory and I can understand what goes on. We produce plastic products and most of the time, we have to test our products th make sure that they comply with the US/European food standards AND that they are lead free. It's very tough on the Chinese suppliers. Competition is tough. In order to win the bid to produce these toys, the suppliers have to offer VERY low prices. Costs on the other hand are increasing rapidly with workers demanding a better quality of life... so the incentive to do such TESTING is greatly reduced.

Not only that, as a supplier, you rely on other suppliers to provide parts to make up your products. You can be sure that what you produce is lead free, but how can you be sure that the products from your other suppliers are also lead free? Then if you decide to test, what if suddenly your supplier changes their supplier?
All of these require money.

So the Chinese factories are being squeezed both locally because cost are rising and externally because they have to lower their selling prices to win the bids. Cutting costs sometimes mean that lots of TESTING are not done... and think about just HOW many toys with different spare parts they have to test. It's okay if they only have like 10 tank engines to test... but even within each of the tank engine (eg. Thomas), there are probably 50 other Thomas' models to test - some with winding parts, some with a key ring etc. Children want variety so they have to keep coming up with hundreds and thousands of models.

Then if we decide NOT to buy Chinese products, can we be reassured that products from other countries would be lead free too? Then are we prepared to pay HK$800 for a barbie doll instead of the usual HK$150 so that vigorous testing can be done in the US and produced in the US? How many children then will go without toys? (the less priviledged ones). Then what's going to happen with the employment and economy here? Not just for the locals but also for the expatriates?

I'm not saying that I support what's happening. In fact, I'm horrified and like all of you, I'll be extra careful with what toys I buy... only saying that this is a REAL problem that isn't as easy to solve as it may seem.

Only my opinion.... but I may not be right. Feel free to correct me ;-)

[Neha]

agree with u completely. not only suppliers fault. the demand exists for cheap stuff out of china so importers are not willing to pay even extra usd 0.05/pc I know about it because my husband also is a exporter we see all the time customers always ask for cheaper price than last time. With labour costs and value of rmb it is impossible to do so. Importers/customers know about it but I guess either they want to make more money or their end users are not willing to pay more money.

[mrs momo]

I bought a toy in HK from ToysRus which has been recalled in the US. I rang both Toysrus and Mattel and they told me it has not been recalled in HK.

Does that mean our standards are different here or should I belive it is a different batch. They told me it is a different batch but I really have doubts. I have now put the toy away but still not sure if I should actually throw it out instead.