Mattel, Fisher-Price pay $2.3M fine - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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million civil penalty for violations of the federall lead paint banin children’s toys. The civil fine comed after the completed an investigation into the importing and sellinyg of toys with lead paint levels that exceededthe .06 percenf lead by weight limit that is federall y mandated. According to the which recently crafted the Consumer Product SafettyImprovement Act, aimed at toughening requirements for lead and phthalatea in children’s products, Mattel importee up to 900,000 non-compliant toys betweem July 2006 and September 2007. Fisher-Price importedx over 1 million non-compliant toys between July 2006 andSeptembert 2007.
Among the toys in question were the populard Sargetoy car, variouw Barbie products and some Go Diegpo Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessivr levels of lead were shipped to retail stores for sale to the In 2007, a massive toy recall took placer where about 95 Mattel and Fisher-Pricew toy models were determined to have exceede the lead limit. Lead can be toxicx if ingested by young children and can cause seriousdhealth problems. The topic of lead paint in children’s productzs has been a hot button issue asof late, with the rollout of the controversial CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturerds and retailers have said the new regulationaare vague, costly and often requiring the duplicates testing of products. Some smaller manufacturers say the laws threaten to put them out of On thepolitical front, Rep. Louisse Slaughter, D-Fairport, said protecting children has to be thetop priority. “When the toy recall happeneds (in 2007) I called the head of Fisher-Pricde and I told him they neededx to start making their toys here Slaughter said.
“We didn’t have these kind of problemas before they imported the Thiscivil penalty, which is the highesf for violations involving importation or distribution of a regulatee product, is the third highest of any kind in CPSC “These highly publicized toy recallss helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricterr the ban on lead paingt on toys,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Thomad Moore. “This penalty should serve noticse to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safetygof children, to reducing theirf exposure to lead, and to the implementatiom of the Consumer Product Safet y Improvement Act.
” As part of a stor featured in our sister publication, The Buffalo Law Journaol , looking at the Consumer Product Safety Improvemenyt Act, which ran prior to the announcement of these fines, Fisher-Pricre declined to provide a representative to discuss the lead paintf regulations. Instead, they issued a written statementywhich read, in part: “Mattel is well positioned as it generally designs its productas to meet global standards. Mattel has also been a leaderd in the efforts of industry to establish voluntaruindustry standards.” The statement also said that Mattel woulr continue to comply with the applicable regulations of the CPSIA.
Matte l was unable to be reaches for comment Monday though a representative said they woulde have a response later inthe day. Despite agreein to pay $2.3 million in Mattel and Fisher-Price deny that they knowingly violatesfederal law, as alleged by CPSC