Chinese drywall causes safety concerns in US,yet with no solid evidence of "being unsafe"

• Source: Xinhua
• [13:35 November 03 2009]
• Comments

CHINA, U.S. TO WORK TOGETHER TO PROBE CAUSE

Quality problems may originate anywhere from raw material collecting, product manufacturing, transportation or distribution.

According to some analysts, with increasing globalization, quality problems were becoming more and more of a challenge that the international community had to cope with together.

The Chinese government has paid much attention to the drywall issue, and Chinese officials have traveled to the United States to learn more about the drywall problems.

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum, who visited China recently, noted her Chinese counterparts had provided technical help and were working with the United States to determine the cause of the problem.

"We are greatly appreciative," Tenenbaum said last week after six days of talks with officials from China's product safety watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The two agencies have pledged to pursue "cooperative scientific and fact-based investigations" into the drywall issue.

"It is CPSC's and AQSIQ's intention to determine the cause of the reported problems, with the goal of ensuring that the problems do not recur," said a joint statement issued by the two consumer goods watchdogs.

Wei Chuanzhong, deputy director of China's AQSIQ, also promised China would do more to improve manufacturers' awareness of product safety and quality requirements.