"Unfair Trade Kills"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
As tourists gawked and snapped photos, a 14-foot tall "Toxic Trader" puppet - flanked by three caped "Toxic Avengers" - posed in front of the White House Wednesday before continuing on its way to a demonstration at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Dozens of supporters joined the march and demo, which targeted a Bush Administration-backed "Import Safety Summit" which activists fear will lower lead limits. The United Steelworkers - which organized the demonstration - released the results of a study Wednesday showing how toxic trade kills unsuspecting American consumers. "Unfair trade kills," said Liz Laycak at the DC rally. Laycak's family wound up living on the street after her father, a steelworker, was laid off when his job was outsourced. "This is a crusade to save America!" said Metro Council President Jos Williams, who was joined by allies including the Sierra Club, Public Citizen and Jobs With Justice. The report, "The Toxic Truth: Unfair Trade Kills," includes victims like a four-year-old who died after swallowing an imported lead pendant that was attached to his shoe, two Philadelphia carpenters whose van crashed while they were traveling home from work on defective tires manufactured in China, and 81 patients poisoned across the country from contaminated heparin, a blood thinner imported from China.
- report by Chris Garlock