Stop Toxic Imports Blog

Children pointed, tourists snapped photos, and Washington D.C. office workers on lunch break stopped to stare as the gargantuan “Toxic Trader” puppet lurched down Pennsylvania Avenue today past the White House on its way to the Bush administration-backed Import Safety Summit.

Toxic Trader invades DC With a motorcycle police escort, the United Steelworkers’ “Toxic Trader” puppet lurched down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, on his way to the Grand Hyatt Hotel on H Street in Washington, D.C. on July 9. That is where the Bush administration-backed Import Safety Summit was being conducted by industry leaders and lobbyists who proposed self-instituting standards for safety rather that face government-imposed inspections and regulations to ensure products shipped into this country don’t maim and injure consumers. On the sidewalk, just outside the Summit, three red-caped Toxic Avengers slew the evil puppet and saved the world. That was the point of the USW’s street theater production, which travels the country to protest unfair trade and so-called free trade deals that export jobs and flood our shores with unsafe imports, from tainted fish to deadly dog food.

Over the past year, American parents rebuffed foreign-made toys when they contained leaded paint, poisonous cadmium beads or the “date rape” drug. These toxic toys created a scandal as it became clear that the Bush administration’s deliberately stripped down Consumer Product Safety Commission was not protecting American children and families from dangerous imports. Republicans eschew government regulation, but its absence has allowed our supermarkets to sell us imported tainted toothpaste and deadly dog food.

In the free for all 21st, it all sounds terrific -- free markets, free trade and free commerce. But really, it's lies, traderous lies and statistics. The "d" in trader is deliberate. This is about the sleight of hand billed as free trade.

The United Steelworkers released the results of a study showing exactly how toxic trade kills unsuspecting American consumers during a teleconference call today at 10:15 a.m.

Join us to confront these toxic traders and the corporate lobbyists at the Bush-administration-backed Import Safety Summit. Rally and Street Theater 12 Noon, July 9th Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St. NW

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) based in Washington, DC and Oakland, California, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Energy and Commerce, at a hearing on the “Discussion Draft of the ‘Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act’ Legislation: Device and Cosmetic Safety” on May 14, 2008. In alliance with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics the EWG seeks to tighten product safety standards in the personal care/cosmetics industry.

The Toxic Trader showed its evil face in downtown Pittsburgh on Friday. The Toxic Avengers from the United Steelworkers were quick to stop the Trader in it's tracks. The Toxic Trader street performance has been seen in cities all over the country in an effort to expose unfair trade and dangerous products imposed on our communities.

A defect on tires has links to China

Chemical Safety Workgroup video