The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has fined Mattel $2.3 million for lead-tainted toys that it imported from china.
The fine stems from the toymaker’s 2007 recall of 95 types of toys and up to 2 million units, primarily for excessive lead in paint. The toys were made in China, the CPSC said.
The settlement, the third largest in the CPSC’s history, resolves a government case against Mattel and its Fisher-Price subsidiary. The government claimed that Mattel knowingly imported and sold toys containing lead paint in 2007… A 1978 law bans toys and other children’s articles that have more than 0.06 percent lead by weight in coatings.
From the June 5, 2009 CPSC news release:
“These highly publicized toy recalls helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead paint on toys,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Thomas Moore. “This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.”
A CBS report from 2007:
See also past CDT posts on product safety.
