Toy Recall: I love it when they paint kids toys with lead

[jatar_k]

[cbc.ca...]

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling nearly 1 million toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

nice, I usually only let my daughter eat lead as a treat

full list
[service.mattel.com...]

I own a few of them but it seems if it was purchased, which they were, before May 1, 2007 it is ok.

[martinibuster]

I don't care if it was purchased before that date, it's all going into the garbage, including some items that aren't on that list.

[deejay]

Good lord.. I can't believe this is still even a possibility!

[King_Fisher]

Gives meaning to the phrase..."Hey get the lead out...!"

[tigertom]

Ha ha, outsourced production!

[Marshall]

Makes you wonder if what they are saving in production costs (cheap labor, materials, etc) makes up for the expense of a recall and loss of consumer confidence.

Marshall

[rocker]

From Jay Leno

"Apparently when you tickle Elmo he's not laughing, he's having a seizure"

[Etonian]

From the BBC News website:

The boss of a Chinese toy firm involved in a huge safety recall has committed suicide, Chinese media has said. [news.bbc.co.uk]

Seems a little extreme, eh. It's a strange old world that we live in.

[ronin]

Eh, well, call me a cynic, but I reckon the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has probably known about this for a while.

This just looks like a well-timed salvo at the "Made in China" brand to stop the officials in Beijing from feeling too comfortable about their export-led economy.

I even wonder if this has been stored up for a while as potential ammunition in case Beijing refused to comply with something.

[Habtom]

From the above BBC news:

A substance found in pet food made in China caused the death of a number of animals in the United States, and toxic ingredients were also found in Chinese-made toothpaste.

Ronin:

This just looks like a well-timed salvo at the "Made in China" brand to stop the officials in Beijing from feeling too comfortable about their export-led economy.

Ronin, I have no reason not to believe you.

[Automan Empire]

Maybe to stave off dumping of a particular currency?

Large retailers use their clout and buying power to aggressively drive down prices, so much so that even paying workers pennies a day, there is virtually no way the factories can produce the goods to the standards we have.

Yes this is really bad for kids, and worthy of the growing uproar. It is only one of the things to worry about, though, and not exclusive to one particular country. Just wait till you learn about phthalates and bisphenol A in plastics!

[Green_Grass]

This is just plain greed. And not Chinese greed who are working on pennies but American greed. American companies with a weakening USD pushing import pricing down and down to maintain profits and please shareholders. This had to happen.

We see ccompanies compromising on quality all the time trying to maintain prices while economies are growing and the price index is rising.

The Chinese are trying to maintain 'confidence' by executing quality control managers and publicizing suicides. This is SICK. Especially when the fault lies elsewhere.