Mattel recalls lead-tainted China-made toys

02 August 2007 07:06  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--US toy major Mattel said late on Wednesday it has recalled some China-made products that were produced using a non-approved paint pigment containing lead.

“We require our manufacturing partners to use paint from approved and certified suppliers and have procedures in place to test and verify, but in this particular case our procedures were not followed,” Jim Walter, the company’s senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance said in a statement.

“We are investigating the cause to ensure such events do not reoccur.”

Mattel was also conducting a review of the procedures followed with respect to all its products manufactured by vendors in China, the company said.

The company will recall 1.5m Fisher-Price toys, which include characters like Elmo and Big Bird, globally, according to local media reports.

The latest recall of made-in-China products has sparked fears of trade protectionism, a senior official from the country’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a Xinhua News Agency report.

Chinese exports have been under international scrutiny after a string of health scares including melamine-tainted pet food exports to the US and incorrectly-labelled drugs which caused deaths of patients in Panama.

China also recently banned diethylene glycol (DEG) in its toothpaste after several countries such as the US, Hong Kong and Canada found higher than permitted levels of the antifreeze in imports.

By: Florence Tan
+65 6780 4359

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