I need some help from all the smart, knowledgeable DUers out there.

I lead a weekly discussion group of high school kids. They/we discuss current issues and next week they want to talk about trade issues, specifically in relation to lead in toys and other health/safety issues.

I have to admit this is an area that I am not very informed.
Does anyone have links to any good articles or studies? Any good questions that I can start the discussion with?

I have a start, but would like more. Thanks in advance.

dealing with the human trafficking part of it. PM me if you would like to see it. But you could start by asking when was the last time they bought something that was actually American made or have them call out a list of products they might think are still American made and then go into what all comes from china, then you could talk about all the poisonous products coming from china these days. Tooth paste and cough medicine with antifreeze in it. Viagra made of drywall, poison in the pet food, toxic toys, defective tires.. the list is endless. Just google a few of these so you have the facts straight and the discussion should run its self.

to safeguard us from dangerous products, meds & food. Track their funding over the course of the last few years.

Meet Nancy Nord.

As the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Nord is in charge of making sure the stuff you buy is safe. Trouble is, these days it isn't. Poisoned toothpaste, poisoned dog food, tainted meat, lead-painted toys, and the real mind-boggler: children's toys that metabolize into a date-rape drug if swallowed! All of these dangerous products have been discovered on America's store shelves within the last year - including over 20 million dangerous children's toys. Sure, they've been recalled, but they should never have made it to the stores in the first place.

Clearly, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been asleep in the guard house. Is it just incompetence? Or is there something more going on here?

According to the Washington Post, between 2002 and 2007, Nancy Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton, accepted nearly 30 trips paid for by industries the CPSC regulates. They spent tens of thousands of bucks on airfare, food, and lodging to send Nord and Stratton to China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans, and that well-known toy-producing island – Hilton Head, S.C. That trip to Spain cost the toy makers a whopping $18,000 – a nice little vacation for Stratton and CPSC general counsel John G. Mullan. And Nancy Nord doesn't see the conflict of interest!
http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/12/all-i-want-for.html

She actually TURNED DOWN additonal funding:
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=nation_world&id=5735296