Product recalls, lead paint, suicide

back on August 1st, Mattel announced the recall of 1.5 million toys under the label of its "Fisher-Price" division * due to the use of lead-based paint, illegal in the US, by the Chinese toy producer.
today Mattel is adding 3 more products to the recall:  one due to the use of lead-based paint and two due to magnet hazards.  according to the recall notice:

Hazard: Small magnets inside the dolls and accessories can come loose. The magnets can be found by young children and swallowed or aspirated. If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation or blockage, which can be fatal.
Incidents/Injuries: Since the previous recall announcement, Mattel has received more than 400 additional reports of magnets coming loose. CPSC was aware in the first recall announcement of 170 reports of the magnets coming out of the recalled toys. There had been three reports of serious injuries to children who swallowed more than one magnet. All three suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery.


news stories on the first and second Mattel recalls.

complete list of Mattel recalled toys

80% of toys sold in the US are manufactured in China.

it was reported by a Chinese state-run newspaper, that " Days after the Fisher-Price recall, Chinese officials temporarily banned the toys' manufacturer, Lee Der Industrial Co., from exporting products. A Lee Der co-owner, Cheung Shu-hung, committed suicide at a warehouse over the weekend, apparently by hanging himself, ..."

it was reported that the tainted paint was supplied by Cheung's best friend:  "The boss and the company were harmed by the paint supplier, the closest friend of our boss,".  Cheung's suicide is under investigation.



* gah.  I didn't even know Fisher-Price belonged to Mattel;  I'd always liked F-P:  they seemed so...innocent

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Zen Ken
You have them confused with when they made their toys out of wood in the U.S.

Along with the chatterphone! :)

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