Another Day, Another Mattel Recall

Mattel to Recall 9 Million Toys [CNN]

Toymaker Mattel is voluntarily recalling 9 million of its toys in the United States including popular characters such as Batman, Barbie, Polly Pockets and a toy from Pixar’s “Cars” movie because of hazards to children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday.

“The company has ordered that all products be pulled off retail shelves,” said Nancy Nord, acting chairman of the commission.

Mattel is recalling 18.2 million magnetic toys globally and the majority of the toys are no longer available in stores.

Some of the recalled toys have magnets that can become dislodged and swallowed, and at least one has hazardous levels of lead in its paint.

“There is absolutely no excuse for lead to be found in toys entering this country. It is totally unacceptable, and it has to stop,” Nord told reporters.

Mattel Chairman Bob Eckert told CNN that his company has rigorous testing procedures in place and that it is reviewing its testing plans.

“Nobody likes recalls, and I apologize for the situation we’re all facing,” Eckert said.

“I’m disappointed, I’m upset, but I can assure your viewers that we’re doing everything we can about the situation,” he added. VideoWatch Mattel CEO explain what the company’s doing about the problem »

Most of the recall—7 million toys—involves Polly Pocket dolls and accessories, which contain small magnets, Nord said. These toys were produced between May 2003 to November 2006. None manufactured after November 1, 2006, are affected.

Also in the recall issued by the world’s largest toy company are 1 million Doggie Daycare sets; 680,000 Barbie and Tanner play sets; and almost 350,000 Batman and One Piece magnetic action figures.

The recalled Polly Pocket play sets have magnets measuring 1/8 of an inch embedded in the hands and feet of some dolls and in the clothing, hair pieces and other accessories to attach the pieces to the doll or the doll’s house, Mattel said. Some 7.3 million sets were sold at toy stores, and 2.4 million of those were recalled in November, the company said.

Since then, Mattel has received more than 400 additional reports of magnets coming loose, according to the safety commission.

There were three reports of serious injuries to children who swallowed more than one magnet. The magnets can stick to one another through tissue, leading to perforations. All three children suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery, according to the CPSC’s Web site.

The potentially dangerous magnets in the Barbie sets are located inside the scooper accessory, the CPSC and Mattel said.

Eckert said Mattel has changed the way it attached magnets to its toys to make them safer.

“We’re concerned, however, about toys that were made prior to these standards so we’re retroactively going for the five years these magnets have been used, and we want to notify consumers that if they have any of those toys, the magnets can dislodge and we want those toys back,” he said.

Mattel also recalled about 253,000 “Sarge” die-cast toys from the Pixar “Cars” movie because of hazardous lead paint.

The recalled Sarge Cars were sold individually and in assortment packs in retail stores nationwide from May 2007 to August 2007. The Sarge character is a small die-cast car measuring about 3 inches in length. Sanjay Gupta explains lead risks

The car is an Army green color and features a white star on the hood. Surface paint on affected products contains lead in excess of permissible levels.

Mattel is urging consumers who bought the recalled toys to put them out of the reach of children immediately and make sure that none of the magnets have fallen out.

The company has posted instructions on its Web site for people to send the toys back for a product voucher.

For Mattel, the parent company of Fisher-Price, it is the second toy recall in two weeks.

Its Fisher-Price preschool division recalled 1.5 million toys that were made in China, over worries that their paint may contain too much lead.

The toys included likenesses of Big Bird and Elmo, as well as the Dora and Diego characters.

“Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects,” according to the CPSC. Lead paint can cause vomiting, anemia and even neurological damage.

Chinese officials temporarily banned Lee Der, the company that made the Fisher-Price lead-tainted toys, from exporting products. The Southern Metropolis Daily, citing unidentified Lee Der workers, said the recall cost the company $30 million.

The manager of the Lee Der factory committed suicide over the weekend, government officials said. Zhang Shuhong hanged himself in a warehouse in the city of Foshan, said an official with the Guangdong Public Security Department.

The recall was among the largest in recent months involving Chinese products, which have come under scrutiny worldwide for containing potentially dangerous high levels of chemicals and toxins.

A Chinese quality inspection agency also announced a temporary export ban on Hansheng Wood Products Factory and said police were investigating the use of “fake plastic pigment.” Such pigments are a type of industrial latex used to make surfaces smoother and shinier.

Hansheng made wooden railroad toys that a New York company, RC2 Corp., sold under the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. RC2 had to recall 1.5 million of the toys earlier this year because of lead paint.

Posted by Web Team on Tuesday, August 14, 2007

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COMMENTS

I am a parent of a five year old girl. I have bought tons and tons of polly pocket and Barbie toys. I am so confussed about this recall mess.

I had to spend a half of day calling this person. That person surfing the web to find out what to do next. I finaly got a hold of some one who had a clue what was going on. So if any one is interested , here is the phone number in which I was able to get the information I needed. for the Mattel Recall 1-800-524-8697 also, here is the website. Service.Mattel.com

You know what really upset me. Who is looking out for are children saftey? How could USA allow health hazardous toys for our children to play with. Aren’t they suppose to go by some guidline? Someone truly dropped the ball on this one. Which leads me to ask a question? Is this the price we have to pay because, it cost a whole lot less to make toys in China

Well I hope this information can help someone.

TIFFANY BOLDEN in
Tuesday, August 14 at 03:54 PM

Good points Tiffany
Walmart has been at the front when it comes to encouraging our manufacturing to leave North American and set up in the sweat shops of third world countries.
Walmart has been China’s dream. It is a long and slow process to import goods from one country to another, but Walmart has been a direct channel into the homes of consumers in the USA and Canada.
We are paying the price more and more for wanting price while giving up quality and safety.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

Alex in Ontario, Canada
Tuesday, August 14 at 04:12 PM

Alex,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this toy recall we’re dealing-with is much broader than your favorite “love to hate” retailer…

Even though you don’t have them in Canada, Target Stores (among others) are way up to their necks in this toy recall, too.

What remains to be seen is how things will be handled, from here. According to what I read at the Mattel website, they are being proactive and offering consumers a way to get the affected toys back to Mattel.

What now remains to be seen is to see how Wal-Mart, Target, Toys “R” Us, and other retailers are going to deal with the existing stock that’s already on the shelves…

Bill

Bill in
Tuesday, August 14 at 05:48 PM

Is this the price we have to pay because, it cost a whole lot less to make toys in China(?)

That is the question, Tiffany.

Seventy-one percent of the toys sold in the United States come from China, and Wal-Mart now sells one out of five of the toys we buy.

Ken V in Texas
Tuesday, August 14 at 09:15 PM

Is this Wal-Marts fault??? As a supplier to Wal-Mart I deal with buyers weekly and I know for a fact that they would not sell anything that they knew was harmful to customers. So, how is this Wal-Marts fault? Dont tell me they push Manufacturers over seas becase Unions are to blame for that.

Big T in Rogers
Tuesday, August 14 at 10:36 PM

ANOTHER DAY...ANOTHER USELESS BLOG THREAD STARTED!

“...and Wal-Mart now sells one out of five of the toys we buy.”

So who is selling the other 80% of the toys we buy? This was another useless thread you started WMW! The importing of cheap China crap into this country is yesterday’s news! Besides, the story from CNN that you posted, didn’t even mention Wal-Mart.

Why don’t you leave the “discussion threads” you start, stay active on page 1 a little longer, instead of pushing them back to page 3 within a day or two. Starting 5 threads in a day is sort of ridiculous, especially when you have 4 threads right now on page 1, that have 0 comments!

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Tuesday, August 14 at 10:42 PM

I an not saying or blaming Wall Mart. For the toxic toys. What I am saying is that. Who drop the ball? When did Wallmart find out about the toys? It had to be today I just bought my daughter some of this toys on yesterday.

I found out about the major recall on the news this morning. I than called my local Wall Mart where I had purschased the toys. The manager had not heard anything about the major recall. He had “said that they were doing store inventory the night before. One of his employees had mention something to him about the recall.

I was the second person who had said the same thing. He assured me that he would get to the bottom of this. I would like to belive that Manager took care of getting rid of toys that are not safe for are children in a timly manner.

I just want to know when was this discover? Did retailers like Wall Mart, K-Mart, Toys R US, ect… find out about the dangerous toys when we the comsumers did? If so why did the US Goverment waite to say something? How long have they knowen. Was it a week or 2 days ago. How may children were put at risk between then and now? So no I never said it was Wall Mart fault. Someone is definetly the blame though.

TIFFANY BOLDEN in PALMETTO ,GEORGIA
Tuesday, August 14 at 11:23 PM

Tiffany

Unfortunately, in our society, someone is always to blame. We are the blameless society. Everything is someone else’s fault. And when someone else is to blame (100% of the time) we hire a slimy lawyer to get us money. Very sad.

Can I ask what motivation Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart and other retailers would have for knowingly selling a bad product or, for that matter, looking the other way? How is it in their interest to hurt their sales and possibly open themselves up to lawsuits?

71% of our toys come from China and Wal-Mart sells 20% of all toys. Even if 100% of Wal-Mart’s toys come from China, that still leaves 80% of all toys and 51% of all toys coming from China and being sold elsewhere.

Why are you blaming Wal-Mart for the Toy Company’s problems?

Nick in
Wednesday, August 15 at 05:40 AM

Nick,

“Unfortunately, in our society, someone is always to blame. We are the blameless society.”

Take a look at Tiffany’s posts, first she says:

“I am a parent of a five year old girl. I have bought tons and tons of polly pocket and Barbie toys.”

Then she says:

“I just bought my daughter some of this toys on yesterday.”

Who is to blame for her over indulging her child? My point is, anybody can blame others for things and we could blame her for spoiling her child!!

Then she says, that she found out about the recall the next morning, probably on the news, but, can’t understand why a manager didn’t know about it!! Problem is, until the toy supplier notifies all of it’s customers and they notify all of their employees, it is understandable that it may take time to go down the chain!!

Besides, things that were “Normal”, yesterday, can be considered “Dangerous” today, yet, people didn’t drop like flies in the past!! Fact is, that the toy company DID react and made the recall, they didn’t hide it and they are trying to rectify the situation!! Now, it is up to the parents to remove those toys from their children’s use, not try to BLAME people!!

RDS in
Wednesday, August 15 at 10:32 AM

Nick,

Of course, this toy business is not Wal-Mart’s fault (though I know there are some, here who would have readers think otherwise).

Today’s most popular toy brands have all been manufactured overseas (particularly China) for the past two generations.

RDS,

No need to pick “Tiffany’s” post apart, as this is not a question of “over-indulgence” of our children, but a question of safety, as it relates to our children.

As I mentioned earlier, Mattel’s top brass immediately got the wheels in motion on their recall, which is a great start, but there is still work to be done, before parents can be at ease.

Namely, the remaining task at hand - to ensure all the big U.S. toy retailers (Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, and Target), as well as the smaller, obscure chains, have some sort of a plan of action in place to clear their store shelves of this recalled merchandise, rather than have some unknowing department manager/stock clerk relegate these toys to the clearance aisle for quick sale.

After all, this is our children we’re talking-about…

Bill

Bill in
Wednesday, August 15 at 12:05 PM

RDS,

I forgot to expand on something you said:

“Problem is, until the toy supplier notifies all of it’s customers and they notify all of their employees, it is understandable that it may take time to go down the chain!!”

RDS - we are in the 21st century, where information can be zapped halfway around the world in the blink of an eye. “Taking time to go down the chain” is going to be a weak argument in this day and age.

Mattel has already identified the affected toys. I am also certain Mattel immediately contacted their vendor-liasions to the three chains I mentioned.

It’s common knowledge that Wal-Mart has world-class automated merchandise management tools - it’s now time to put them (and the IT of the other big chains) to the test…

Bill

Bill in
Wednesday, August 15 at 12:13 PM

has anyone considered all the other goods ,beswides toys, that are made and painted in china??tools,christmas and seasonal decorations,lamps,etc.!!!

ddrb in
Wednesday, August 15 at 12:13 PM

ddrb,

I doubt a todder would put a tool or a lamp in their mouth.

Fisher-Price toys, on the other hand, has been gummed-on by babies for generations…

Bill

Bill in
Wednesday, August 15 at 12:16 PM

B.ill, i agree with you that it would have to be aheck of a big toddler to put in its mouth...but my point was to not limit ones thinking on the myriad items that have lead based paint as decoration l..that could ostensibly rub off onto ones hands or body with repetitive use ....did i neglect to mention cheap jewelry items like bracelets and necklaces that could transmit lead ?

ddrb in
Thursday, August 16 at 11:25 AM

I work in a WalMart toy department and I can attest to the fact that all affected toys on this latest recall were removed from the shelves of store I work in same day as recall was announced. Walmart corporate reacts instantly to recalls of this nature and gets information out to the stores.

If a particular store did not respond to recall notice in a timely manner, shame on them.

toy guy in Texas
Thursday, August 16 at 11:50 AM

Walmart corporate reacts instantly to recalls of this nature and gets information out to the stores.

Could you give us an example or two proving that statement? A quick review of the recalls of the past year reveals little to indicate Wal-Mart “reacts instantly”.

Ken V in Texas
Friday, August 17 at 02:33 AM

Can we stop buying things made in China?

Ruby in Toronto
Saturday, August 18 at 08:53 AM

I also deal with Walmart buyers directly, and for a Fortune 500 firm. The REALITY is that Walmart dictates the price in many cases. We also know that if we cannot meet the Walmart price...they go elsewhere. China is the only option (not India). I wish we could mfg in Canada or USA or Europe...but we can’t.
And so we lay off employees, can’t pay dividends to shareholders, and close Canadian mfg and dist houses.
Maybe a bit dramatic, but that is the reality. Don’t talk about Target, because they aren’t in Canada yet.

Mik in Toronto
Thursday, August 23 at 11:57 AM

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