Toys Recall Massive Toys Recall

Toys Recall

Massive Toys Recall to China

On August 14, 2007, Mattel announced recalls for 9 million more Chinese-made toys, including popular Barbie, Polly Pocket and "Cars" movie items, and warned that more could be ordered off store shelves because of lead paint and tiny magnets that could be swallowed.

The recalls came nearly two weeks after Mattel Inc., the nation's largest toy-maker, recalled 1.5 million Fisher-Price infant toys worldwide, which were also made in China, because of possible lead-paint hazards for children.

This story not only affects the toy industry, but it also had a great impact on one major country involved in the industry, China, as a manufacture of choice for American imports of merchandise in textile. The Consumers Product Safety Commission said it has things under control; but claims they need more support in the form of regulations and laws enacted from Congress. They want more power involved in what get tested, but Mattel CEO promised that the toys in the stores are safe.

However, the lead paint recall is only part of the huge number of problems involved. According to U.S. News, "Another week, another recall of Chinese-made toys," (MSNBC). Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested detaining and inspecting all Chinese toy imports for lead paint. "We can't wait any longer for China to crack down on its lax safety standards. This needs to stop now before more children and more families are put at risk." The U.S. is claiming that China has a low standard for quality of production for manufacturers, he said.

On the other side of the coin, the Chinese government disputes the claims. According to the news in China, the government claimed Mattel is a U.S. Company and both the U.S. government and Mattel are responsible for the recall. They claimed 85% of the recall products were because there were errors in the design of the products. The faulty products were designed by U.S. designers. Mattel apologized to the people of China for the damage to China's reputation, with the executive vice president, Thomas Debrowski saying that Mattel "takes full responsibility for the problems." He said that a design flaw, not manufacturing problems in China created most of the recalls (Barnett 1).

On the internet there is a "one stop shop" for all the involved governmental agencies, where information on recalls may be found (Margolies 1). And the Centers for Disease Control Lead Program also has a listing of toys which have been recalled because of paint which can contain excessive lead levels, violating federal paint standards (CDC 2007).

Some publications claim that the U.S. is abandoning the importation of Chinese products because of the currency issue, as imports are becoming more expensive. There are many questions about what the Toy industry is doing about the recent problems which have arisen concerning the recalls:

In addition to adhering to the federal requirements and additional self-imposed safety measures, the toy industry has initiated reassurance testing to affirm the safety of the toys already on the shelves. At the same time, the toy industry is developing a new, mandatory testing protocol by accredited laboratories in conjunction with the well-respected American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (Lawrence 145).

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has been given the responsibility for protecting the American public from risks of death or serious injury from over 15,000 products. Information concerning product recalls is available in product recall alerts on the internet and through press releases. One can find a recall by the date, the product type, the company producing the product, the product description or the hazard it produces. Toys are only one of the "feeds" for which recalls are listed (Consumer 2007).

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recognizes more must be done to prevent the importation from China of faulty products and hazardous toys. "It is a big concern. And the agency is taking steps to try to address that as quickly as possible," Spokeswoman Julia Vallese said. "Their businesses will suffer if they don't meet safety standards."

Scott J. Wolfson, another spokesman from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, refused to say how long since RC2 reported the problem to authorities. He reports that in the past two years, the staff has been cut over 10%, leaving fewer consumer product commission regulators monitoring safety of imports (Lipton 1).

When one considers what goes into making children's toys safe, it is a wonder that people still purchase toys for children. But the industry claims that toys are actually one of the safest products that a person can bring into their home. The ASTM Subcommittee on Toy Safety has refreshed its review of ASTM F. 963, the Consumer Safety Specification on new technologies for toys, new product innovation and all the incident data to make sure consumers have a recently completed standard for toy safety" (Lawrence, p 145).

In June of 2007, as the news began to break, 24 kinds of toys were recalled, 1.5 million train sets were covered with lead paint. Lead paint is not produced in the United States because of voluntary restrictions by manufacturers. Lead paint is less expensive to produce and creates a very white, so is used in other countries because it is less expensive. Obviously, in China, Mexico and other toy production countries, the production of lead paint is not restricted and is in demand for the production of inexpensive products.

The popular Thomas & Friends train sets, were recalled, setting a record for number of recalls and causing alarm among parents, consumer advocates, and regulators alike. The 1.5 million Thomas & Friends rail and train components which were recalled made up about 4% of all sold in the U.S. over the last 2 years by RC2 Corporation in Oak Brook, IL. The toys were painted in a factory set up to do so, in China, using white lead paint. Lead can cause damage to brain cells in children (Lipton 1).

The toy industry in the United States polices itself. Toy trains and railroad pieces made directly for RC2 in China are overseen by the RC2 American corporation, which should give it control over safety and quality of toys in that country, but Staci Rubinstein, of RC2, declined to comment on company plants' safety control measures there. Also declining to comment was the Toy Industry Association, representing most American toy importers and companies.

Staff cuts have made regulators lax, under the Bush administration. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said recently that next year it is planning to curtail efforts to prevent children from swimming pool and bathtub drownings, because of limited resources. The Commission has standards which it tries to maintain, but has only about 100 compliance personnel and field investigators at the nation's ports, stores and warehouses trained and hired to conduct inspections of "$22 billion worth of toys and tens of billions of dollars' worth of other consumer products sold in the country each year." The commission needs more staff, resources and money to perform more quality checks, according to Consumer Reports personnel (Lipton 2).

Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record. It also means that China today is responsible for about 60% of all product recalls, compared with 36% in 2000. Much of the rise in China's ranking on the recall list has to do with its corresponding surge as the world's primary toy maker. Toys made in China make up 70 to 80% of the toys sold in the U.S., according to the Toy Industry Association.

Combined with the recent scares in the United States of Chinese-made pet food, and globally of Chinese-made pharmaceuticals and toothpaste, the string of toy recalls is inspiring new demands for stepped-up enforcement of safety by United States regulators and importers, as well as by the government and industry investors in China.

Since reporting problems with manufactured toys is voluntary, recalls with lower-priced, no-brand-name products that are sold at dollar stores and other deep discounters, have the most serious problems. These products are manufactured and shipped without the involvement of large brand-name toy importers. In 2006, China also produced 81% of counterfeit goods seized at entry ports by Customs officials in the U.S. There is no regulation of products that are not made to conform to the standards on the copied labels.

Most recalls are therefore voluntary, after companies receive complaints or discover problems, such as in the Thomas & Friends recall. Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because it was a choking hazard.

Among the toy recalls, the problem is most acute with low-price, no-brand-name toys that are often sold at dollar stores and other deep discounters, which are manufactured and sent to the United States often without the involvement of major American toy importers. Last year, China also was the source of 81% of the counterfeit goods seized by Customs officials at ports of entry in the United States -- products that typically are not made according to the standards on the labels they are copying (Lipton 3).

In September of 2007, Mr. Stone, a wildlife pathologist, and his daughter discovered the hazardous levels of lead in dozens of children's necklaces and bracelets sold at stores like Big Lots and Michaels after they tested children's jewelry Montana had bought or received as birthday gifts in Mr. Stone's lab in New York's Department of Environmental Conservation in Stonefield, NY. There were 56 pieces which contained high levels of lead, out of 75 pieces of jewelry tested (Story 1).