Mattel Inc. and Fisher-Price Inc. have agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty for violating the federal lead paint ban in connection with the defective products recall in 2007 involving nearly 1 million toys that had unacceptably high levels of lead. According to a news report in Consumeraffairs.com, the recalled toy products were mostly made in China and had the potential to cause significant and permanent brain damage in young children. The product recall also involved extremely popular brands of toys such as Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego and Pixar's Cars.
The penalty settlement has been provisionally accepted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and resolves allegations that the companies knowingly imported and sold children's toys with paints or other surface coatings that contained lead levels that violated a 30-year-old federal law. In 1978, CPSC banned toys and other children's items having more than 0.06 percent lead, by weight, in paints or surface coatings. In 2007, about 95 Mattel and Fisher Price toy models were determined to have exceeded this limit. Lead is obviously toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health consequences including brain damage.
There is no question that Mattel and Fisher Price should be held responsible for knowingly violating a law, especially one that involves the health and safety of our children. I'm pleased that they are being made to pay and are being held accountable for their negligence and wrongdoing.
Continue reading "Defective Products Recall: Toy Companies Pay $2.3 Million Fine for Lead Paint in Toys" »
