About Contaminations of Chinese-Made Clothing

"Made in China" appears on the labels of everything from toasters to T-shirts, but the United States and several other countries have faced several contamination scares associated with Chinese-manufactured goods. While scares related to clothing occurred outside of the United States, they pose as a topic of concern among all countries with a large importation of Chinese-made clothing.

Contamination Scares in General

• Major concerns over possible contaminants in Chinese-made products first began around 2007 with an alert about pet food. Within the Unites States, more than 100 brands of wet pet-food products made with wheat gluten from China had fatal levels of melamine, and additional pet-food brands containing rice protein from China had an apparent connection to kidney failure. This contamination scare eventually spread to other realms, including human foods, toys and clothing. In Panama, for example, officials blamed the deaths of more than 50 people on cough syrup tainted with diethylene glycol from China. Several brands of toothpaste sold in the United States also had traces of this chemical.

New Zealand - 2007

• In August of 2007, contamination worries finally reached the realm of Chinese-made clothing. In New Zealand, a popular television news program, "The World Today," made claims about the levels of formaldehyde found in wool and cotton children's clothes. The program's investigators received a complaint about a child who suffered an allergic reaction and set about testing randomly selected garments. Some of the clothes tested contained "900 times the safe level of formaldehyde." This prompted an official investigation from the New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

Vietnam - 2009

• Several years later, in 2009, an unconnected scare about levels of formaldehyde contained in Chinese-made goods surfaced in Vietnam. The Ministry of Trade and Industry reportedly checked all toys and clothing imported from southern China after authorities in Guangdong found that nearly half of its garments failed the country's safety standards. Most of these safety failings related to high levels of formaldehyde. Additionally, a high percentage of children's furniture made in China contained unsafe levels of lead, cadmium, chromium and other heavy metals.

Effect of Contamination Concerns

• In spite of contamination concerns, the "Made in China" label faces little threat of extinction. In 2007, Cristina Rouvalis of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailed the difficulties she had when faced with the idea of lasting an entire day without products manufactured in China. Not only did this limit the appliances, electronics and toys she and her family used but finding suitable clothing in her closet also proved difficult. The majority of inexpensive, imported clothing comes from China, along with plenty of expensive brands, too. Manufacturers in other countries also produce affordable and trendy clothes, posing a small threat to Chinese-manufactured fashion. While reports of contamination remain minimal, however, the Chinese textile industry will likely face little real danger.