Here they go again. Another Recall. No, not a council person or member of a school board, TOYS. You heard me. Children’s toys manufactured in China.
Mattel is being clobbered. Personally I am amazed with how they are able to stay afloat with all the negative press and millions of toys being recalled.
Anne D’Innocenzio , Business Writer for the Associated Press just released a report of a third China Toy Recall due to possible excessive use of lead based paint.
You can read the entire report here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070904/mattel_recall.html?.v=1
Her story reads in part that “Mattel’s last recall, announced on Aug. 14, covered about 19 million toys worldwide. They included Chinese-made toys that either had excessive amounts of lead paint or had small magnets that could easily be swallowed by children.
On Aug. 1, Mattel’s Fisher-Price division said it was recalling 1.5 million preschool toys featuring characters such as Dora the Explorer, Big Bird and Elmo because of lead paint. That action included 967,000 toys sold in the United States between May and August.
Lead can cause brain damage when ingested by young children. Under current regulations, children’s products found to have more than .06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.”
In fairness let me point out that while this is not the first recall of Mattel products, I am certain that many of them were in the manufacturing and shipping pipeline months before this health concern became known. That should explain why they are experiencing this third recall in one year. No one, be it a toy manufacturer or auto manufacturer, wants that kind of negative publicity.
Not to list only Mattel but Anne also mentions other manufacturers in her report as indicated:
“Late last month, Toys “R” Us announced it was recalling thousands of art sets made in China due to excessive levels of lead in some black watercolor paints.
In June, toy maker RC2 Corp. voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. The company said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contain lead, affecting 26 components and 23 retailers.
In July, Hasbro Inc. recalled faulty Chinese-made Easy Bake ovens, marking the second time the iconic toy had been recalled this year.
The Aug. 14 worldwide recall covered more than 400,000 die-cast cars modeled after the cartoon movie character “Sarge” that contained excessive amounts of lead paint. Eckert told reporters the correct paint was sent to a subcontractor, who apparently chose not to use it.”
Juice readers. AS consumers of these products we need to see some assurance of quality control due diligence.
What did the toy specifications list for product finishing?
Did the subcontractors comply with the spec’s or were rejected batches bought off in the MRB crib?
Did the buyer use source inspection, and if so, why wasn’t this caught in China before the products ever left their docks?
After the first recall what corrective action measures did Mattel put into place to avoid a repeat?
While 80 percent of toys are manufactured in China will you purchase Chinese manufactured toys for Christmas?
Feel free to expand on this list or simply add your comments.
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