Thu, Sep 06, 2007 page10

• Mattel recalls more Chinese-made toys

  THREE TIMES UNLUCKY? The firm has finished the product testing it promised after the first recall, but its CEO said he could not promise there would not be more recalls

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  Mattel Inc's reputation took another hit after the world's largest toy maker announced a third major recall of Chinese-made toys in little more than a month because of excessive amounts of lead paint.

  The latest action, which involved about 800,000 toys and which was announced late on Tuesday, is yet another blow to Mattel. The news, along with other recent recalls of tainted Chinese toys from other toy makers, could also make parents even more nervous about shopping for toys this holiday season.

  The latest Mattel recall, whose details were negotiated by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), covers 522,000 US toys and 322,000 outside the US. The toys were shipped between Aug. 3 last year and July.

  

  Customers look at Fisher-Price toys in a department store in Beijing on Aug. 22. US toy giant Mattel announced its third recall of Chinese-made toys on Tuesday, including some from its Fisher-Price brand.

  PHOTO: AP

  The recall covers 675,000 Barbie accessories sold between last October and last month. No Barbie dolls were included in the action.

  The recall also included 90,000 units of Mattel's GeoTrax locomotive line and about 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys, both from the company's Fisher-Price brand. The Big Big World products were sold in the US in July last month, while the GeoTrax toys were sold from last September through last month.

  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 US between May and last month.

  Robert Eckert, chairman and chief executive of California-based Mattel, warned at a press conference last month that there may be more recalls of tainted toys as the company steps up its investigations into its Chinese factories and increases monitoring of production.

  In a statement issued late on Tuesday, Eckert said: ``As a result of our ongoing investigation, we discovered additional affected products. Consequently, several subcontractors are no longer manufacturing Mattel toys. We apologize again to everyone affected and promise that we will continue to focus on ensuring the safety and quality of our toys.''

  Mattel added that it has completed its testing program for the majority of its toys and spent more than 50,000 hours investigating its vendors and testing its toys over the past four-week period.

  Still, Mattel, which has cultivated an image of tightly controlling production in China, could face an uphill battle convincing consumers about the safety of its products this holiday season.

  The CPSC is also considering a possible investigation of whether Mattel notified authorities as quickly as it should have in connection with the Aug. 14 recall. The agency stopped short of confirming an active investigation was already under way.

  On Tuesday Eckert told the Wall Street Journal that Mattel preferred to investigate reports of dangerous toys without informing the agency first.

  US law requires companies to alert the CPSC within 24 hours of discovering information about a dangerous defect in a product.

  Meanwhile, a Chinese quality official said yesterday that Beijing is investigating the latest recall.

  Wang Xin (王新), an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine, said the agency, which oversees all products made in China, is trying to get details on when the toys were made and the manufacturers involved.

  About 65 percent of Mattel's toys are made in China, and about 50 percent of Mattel's production there is made in company-owned plants.
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