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When Mattel Inc. said this week it would recall another 800,000 toys, the third such recall this summer, attention naturally fell on China. Excessive lead levels and other safety problems have set off a health scare in North America, resulting in the recall of Barbie accessories, GeoTrax trains, toy bongo drums and a welter of other products for kids. But before writing off China as an unreliable supplier of shoddy goods, it's worthwhile remembering five things:

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1. Toy recalls are hardly new and China is not always the culpritRemember lawn darts? The large, weighted darts were designed to be aimed at a target lying on the grass, but kids sometimes threw them at each other instead. The United States banned them in 1988 after the Consumer Product Safety Commission blamed them in three deaths. Similarly, the EZ Sales mini-hammock was banned in the 1980s after several children strangled to death – and many others nearly did – in the thin mesh of the hammocks.

In the 1970s there were Clackers, a pair of large marbles suspended from a ring that made a neat clacking sound when they collided. Problem was they sometimes shattered on impact, sending plastic shards into the user's eyes. More recently, in March 2006, Magnetix building sets were recalled after it was discovered that some children had swallowed the small magnets inside the building pieces. One death and four serious injuries were attributed to the toy. It was the same with Polly Pocket play sets, recalled last November after kids swallowed small magnet parts.

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2. China is hardly the only source of faulty goods

Remember Perrier? The French water brand was forced to temporarily pull its product off the shelves in the United States in 1990 after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, were discovered in the stuff. Or think of U.S.-made Firestone tires. The company was forced to recalled 6.5 million tires after it was shown that defective tires were causing vehicles to roll over, a fault linked to a staggering 271 deaths. Or consider the Ford Pinto, which had an unfortunate tendency to burst into flame when hit by another car from behind. So far, there have been no reported deaths linked to high levels of lead paint in toys made in China.

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3. The Chinese aren't necessarily worse manufacturers, just busierIt's because they are just so dominant. Often called the workshop of the world, China is the third largest exporter after the United States and Japan. Of the consumer goods purchased in the United States last year, 40 per cent were imported from China. So it should not come as a surprise that about 50 per cent of the 467 products that manufacturers recalled last year were produced in China.

The problem is magnified in the case of toys. China exported $17.7-billion (U.S.) worth of toys last year, producing about 80 per cent of all the toys made in the world. With that kind of volume, some kind of problems are just about inevitable.

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4. Sometimes it's the North American designerA soon to be released report by two Canadian business professors, Paul Beamish and Hari Bapuji, found that about three quarters of toy recalls in recent years were caused by design faults such as sharp edges; small, loose parts that could be ingested by children; or strings or lines that could strangle them. Manufacturing problems such as lead paint were responsible for only 10 per cent of recalls over the last two decades, the professors found.

There is no denying that Chinese standards and regulations are below North American levels. It's also perfectly clear that many Chinese manufacturers – and, even more often, their smaller subcontractors – are cutting corners to make more money and keep their prices low, a key to their export success.

But part of the blame lies with North American companies that look the other way rather than put pressure on their Chinese suppliers to come up to scratch. Some companies, such as Nike, the sportswear firm, require Chinese suppliers to sign documents guaranteeing they will meet quality and safety standards. Others hire outside testing companies to go over the products they bring in from China with a fine-toothed comb. But many others simply bring in container loads of cheap stuff from China and pass it onto consumers without a second look.

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5. China is moving up the quality ladder Remember, too, that every developing economy, from Japan to Hong Kong and now to China, has started off manufacturing cheap, often substandard goods and then moved up the quality ladder. That progression is well under way in China. Airbus, the European aviation giant, is sourcing more and more of its sophisticated parts from China. While China's exports of shoes, clothing and, yes, toys are huge, it is also moving aggressively into chemicals, steel, semiconductors, digital electronics and a host of other complex products.

Decades ago, the label “Made in Japan” meant poor quality. After the toy and pet food scandals of recent months, a similar cloud hangs over China's reputation. But time will change that.