The Brockovich Report

Made in America

Once upon a time, we looked at a product and were able to draw certain generalizations-- whether or not these were completely correct, there were axioms we generally could consider true:

Electronics "made in Japan" were superior.
Small parts "made in China" were inexpensive.
"Made in Germany" meant items that were mechanically efficient and usually overpriced.
"Made in Italy" usually referred to expensive, fashionable and frequently hand-made shoes that wore badly but looked great before they fell apart; specifically "Made in Venice" would refer to hand-blown glass.
"Made in France" meant something artistic, avant garde, or gourmet" cheesy" like Camembert de Normandie or Roquefort.
"Made in America" meant something.

Maybe you bought different products from other countries and developed other impressions. Your mileage may vary based on your shopping/consumption history.

But what about "Made in America?"

John Ratzenburger's Made in America" notwithstanding, now, we can't generalize. It's not that Americans don't manufacture--American's still invent, create, build and distribute.

It's just that to know who that is, now we have to read the fine print. The tag "Made in America" has been largely replaced by "Assembled in America." Sure, the Federal Trade Commission enforces what that means. (Follow the link to see their very specific guidelines to what is and is not required. I won't go into the political sleight of hand that lowered consumer costs and reduced American jobs by moving many of them out of the country into cheaper, less regulated labor forces.)

I don't know if it is the FDA or the immense power of the American Consumer, but it becomes increasingly obvious that American manufacturers recall stuff. They do so VOLUNTARILY. They voluntarily pull items for "possible contamination with the bacteria Shigella," "potential contamination with Salmonella," "undeclared drug ingredient sibutramine," "potential contamination with Clostridium botulinum,"--all direct quotes from the FDA.

There are things you don't find.

You don't find that American manufacturers regularly pump up the quality of rice with poisonous melamine as a food additive, as has been discovered in China. Internationally, China is getting the reputation of being the Wild West of manufacturing standards.

We're not alone in struggling to protect and maintain a nation-wide standard in spite of imported ingredients. Switzerland with its highly reputable FDA has had similar ingredient importation issues; in July 2007, Swiss manufacturer Unipektin recalled guar gum (a thickening agent) because its Indian supplier provided ingredients contaminated with dioxin.

So much product is imported, parted out, or purchased that it is becoming increasingly obvious there are differences between items "Made in America" versus items made outside of the country.

It's not that our products are innately superior (though they may be), or that the standards are higher (though they may be.)

It is that our manufacturers--like Switzerland's Unipektin--voluntarily recall. If they find something is wrong, they don't wait until hundreds of dogs die from poisoning, or dozens of consumers are stricken with unwarranted allergy attacks from hidden "peanut" tainted ingredients. At great cost, they pull products that have "possible" contamination.

For the consumer, it doesn't matter if these manufacturers are recalling in compliance with the law, or because they fear our litigious society. Motive is invisible. It's the result that matters, and that result is safer consumer goods.

It is a sad development when a company like Mattel has to recall 18.2 million toys because of lead-based paint potentially threatening children's health. Since that recall, if you search the internet, you can find hundreds of articles blaming the recall on new guidelines, Chinese suppliers passing the buck, etc....

Even so, I haven't lost confidence in Mattel. I can only point out to them that in this case, the weakest link in their chain of operations originated out of the country. At the risk of sounding sentimentally patriotic, I can only hope that in the future, they too will perhaps consider returning to "building American."