Vietnam bans ‘Barbie’ movie, yet that’s where they are manufactured?
We were in Vietnam in December 2018 and met a young couple in Ha Long Bay. They were from South Korea, but they worked as executives at the Barbie doll factory in Hanoi.
They said they were trying to start a family, so we asked if they were concerned about working in a plastic factory with all of the volatile toxic fumes in the factory, as well as all of the plastic waste being dumped into the Yellow Sea.
Their response was that the West had polluted for decades, and now it was their turn for economic development and all the pollution that it entailed. Concerning the dolls, they stated that when the factory is inspected, the inspectors are given dolls that have been screened to be toxic-free.
The young couple was content to expose themselves to toxic fumes in the factory, to produce potentially toxic dolls, to deceive international factory inspectors, and to pollute the ocean. I doubt they will be able to start a family
Throughout our travels in Southeast Asia, the above attitude and position were common.
