“The Real Toy Story”: the dark side of the toy industry

Reading the USA Today this morning I stumbled across a book review by Michelle Archer that bothered me. Her book review was informative, the book looks good, but the content of the book is what is truly causing me concern:

“Santa’s Sweatshop” could be a book on its own. It’s a quick but chilling ride through China, where about 8,000 toy factories and 3 million workers produce the bulk of U.S. toys. The reason, of course, is cost. Of the $9.99 retail price of a Chinese-made Barbie doll in 2000, Clark writes, only 35 cents went to the producers in China for the factory and the labor.

Despite codes, labor conditions in Chinese factories are still often atrocious. Clark writes a composite of the appalling everyday life of a worker, constructed from reports and clandestine interviews.

The young worker suffers chronic ailments from exposure to toxic chemicals, endures slumlike dormitory conditions and forced overtime, and owes her employer half her earnings to cover her ID card, nearly inedible food, electricity and benefits. Another worker was literally run to death on the factory floor, a victim of a new disease called guolaosi: death from overwork.

Though many a toy buyer has probably suspected the products are the fruits of sweatshops, reading about the policies of some Chinese factories certainly will give grown-ups pause the next time they browse the toy aisles.

Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to talk with my two older kids about this new information. Cole and Reagan are ages 10 and 8 and are getting to that age where they can begin to understand world events.

They actually accompanied Amy and I last August when we went to South Africa and saw first hand how the majority of the world lives, and it made an impact in their lives! I’m not going to take their toy away, if that is what your thinking But I do want to start a dialog about what people around the world are going through to make some of their toys. This is ridiculous, and when our eyes get opened, what are we going to do about it?

I’m horrified and a little embarrassed that I was unaware of the conditions of how some of the toys I’m buying for my children are made. I want my children to know that we do not want to support these kinds of manufacturing practices. I know it can often feel like “I’m only one family.” But isn’t that where it starts?

I’m curious what you think about this information? What do you think we should do?