(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-30 15:49

Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), warned on Wednesday against turning a product safety issue with China into a trade issue.

"I think it will be very foolish to turn a safety issue into a trade issue," she said at a news conference. "Safety issue is safety. It impacts both Chinese and American consumers that we focus on."

"I am a big consumer of Chinese-made products," said the leader of US consumer product safety watchdog.

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When asked whether she will still have confidence in Chinese-made products, she answered absolutely, adding her agency will work with the Chinese side to improve the product safety.

"The bottom line is that American consumers like the products that come from China, it is an important market," she said. "We want to make sure that Americans consumers are reassured that the products they buy come from China are safe."

CPSC is an independent US federal regulatory agency that works to protect consumers by reducing the risk of injury and death associated with consumer products.

In 2005, CPSC and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine held the First Biennial Sino-US Consumer Product Safety Summit in Beijing.

Both China and US have agreed to hold the Second Biennial Consumer Product Safety Summit next month in Washington DC to take feasible measures to ensure food security and reliability of Chinese products.

Since March, quality and safety issues of made-in-China products have been under international spotlight, ranging from pet foods to drugs, toothpastes, toys, aquatic products and tyres.