Today I’m in sunny Colorado attending the Aspen Institute’s Health Forum . I’ve only been here one day but so far, I’ve met Bill Frist, Olympic medalists Aaron Peirsol and Picabo Street, and saw a black bear eating out of a trash can.
Last night, I attended an event sponsored by General Electric’s Healthcare branch. The big guns were here and Joe Hogan, President and CEO of GE Healthcare put on a great show of the latest in imaging technology and a panel discussed how it can be used to protect today’s Olympic athletes. He highlighted some interesting bits about the upcoming Olympic games in China including that an investment of $40 billion dollars is being made by the Chinese government to support the games; an amount that dwarfs other sums spent for past games. This is where is started to get interesting for me.
Two panelists, Margie Hunt, Head Trainer for the US Olympic Committee and Dr. Jack Taunton, Chief Medical Officer for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games each made digs about environmental quality in China. This was particularly noteworthy for me as each of these two people are charged with protecting the health of athletes, not to mention every other person attending the games in Taunton’s case. The most poignant was a comment made by Taunton in reference to a slide Joe Hogan from GE had shown in his presentation about the games in China (GE is a huge investor). Now remember, the slides that folks usually show at such an event are meant to impress, but the air quality in the city shot Hogan used looked worse than LA. It was absolutely abysmal. This got me thinking…
Perhaps for the games in China, we can introduce a fourth medal made of lead. It can be presented to the competitors or spectators who suffer the greatest exposure to toxic levels of environmental contaminants while playing with toys, drinking apple juice, or using toothpaste while attending the Olympic games in China. I think it’s an idea whose time has come.
I’ve been to Shanghai and a couple of other cities near there and experienced and seen the air and water pollution. China does need to clean up its act, but I think it’s a bit arrogant for western nations to look down on China and other developing countries for their lax environmental and manufacturing regulations/safeguards (or enforcement thereof) (Willy, I’m not referring to you…this is just a general rant). Don’t forget that it wasn’t that long ago that the US and parts of western Europe were also very polluted (still are, depending on how you look at it) and that goods manufactured in those countries had all sorts of funky contaminants.
It’s always easy for American toy companies to blame factories in China, but I think these companies are ultimately responsible for checking up on the factories they contract to and for using ones that have good track records.
(ok, I’ll stop ranting now, sorry Willy).
Corie, I think you nailed your landing (Gold medal!!). Your point is right on (except I don’t consider it arrogant to want all nations to pollute a lot less). My criticism is for international companies that look to China for manufacturing because it can be done cheaply there compared to the US. Added to this are lower environmental standards for things like lead and mercury. Whom do I blame for toxic toys? The US companies that saw a cash cow by moving manufacturing operations to other countries. It is a load of baloney that anyone should do an end run on safety standards for the sake of a buck. Invest money in China = good. Do it at the expense of safety standards = bad. I would like to see some of this money going to help other nations to address their environmental problems. If the world plans to leave the Olympic games in China without doing what it can to improve the lot of people living there (environmental toxins and otherwise), then count me out.
“I think it’s a bit arrogant for western nations to look down on China and other developing countries for their lax environmental and manufacturing regulations/safeguards (or enforcement thereof)…”
But shouldn’t we express our concern for the environmental conditions that the people must endure? This is not “looking down on”. Asking better behaviors from US-based companies is a good start. Offering technologies and expertise is another useful step — we’ve tackled some nasty environmental messes at home and experience is the best teacher.