What to do with all of those Recalled Toys
As millions of toys with dangerous components and materials are recalled, manufacturers and retailers alike are asking, “What should be done with all of the recalled toys?” Many of toys will likely end up in dumpsters, raising concerns about such large quantities of plastic and lead in the nation’s landfills. As worries about ever-bulging landfills and groundwater contamination grow, the headache of getting rid of the toys may just be the start of problems to come.
As we learn more about how far-reaching the health threats of these products can be, it’s becomes more clear how important it is for these products to never make it to the shelves of retail stores like Wal-Mart in the first place. It’s time for Wal-Mart to demand more of its suppliers, and to stop jeopardizing the health of people and the environment.
Additional Links:
Wal-Mart Watch fact sheet: Is Wal-Mart Really a Green Company?
Wal-Mart Watch fact sheet: Wal-Mart and Hazardous Waste
From “Toy Industry Challenged by Disposal Plan” [Associated Press via ABC News]
Now that toy companies have issued recalls for millions of Chinese-made toys that are either tainted with lead or otherwise hazardous to children, they are scrambling to figure out what to do with them.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Web Team on Thursday, August 16 | 16 comments | Permalink
Conditions in Wal-Mart Supplier Factories Remain “A Challenge”
Wal-Mart’s ethical sourcing report, released yesterday, maintains that the company has been inspecting greater numbers of supplier factories - you remember, those factories that abuse workers and produce dangerous products? Lee Scott says, “Improvement of factory working conditions in our supply chain remains a challenge.” We say, that’s an understatement.
Labor violations by suppliers lessen, Wal-Mart reports [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
Inspections at factories supplying products to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. turned up fewer serious labor violations in 2006 than in 2005, the company said in a report released Wednesday.
Wal-Mart Watch, one of the company’s chief critics, charged that the report glosses over serious flaws in the supply chain of the world’s largest retailer.
Most of the factories inspected were in foreign countries.
According to the report, Wal-Mart or contract auditors found serious violations, such as failure to pay overtime, in 40. 3 percent of the 8, 873 factories inspected. That figure is down from 52. 3 percent in last year’s report.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, August 16 | 1 comments | Permalink
Mattel Announces Its Biggest Toy Recall in History
From “Mattel Recalls 19 Million Toys Sent From China” [New York Times]
Mattel, the world’s largest toy company, yesterday announced the biggest recall in its history.
In a double-barreled announcement, the company said it was recalling 436,000 Chinese-made die-cast toy cars depicting the character Sarge from the animated film “Cars” because they are covered with lead paint.At the same time, the toy maker said it was recalling 18.2 million other toys because their small, powerful magnets could harm children if swallowed. The magnetized toys were also made in China, but they followed a Mattel design specification.
About half of the toys in each recall were distributed in the United States.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Web Team on Wednesday, August 15 | 5 comments | Permalink
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.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Web Team on Tuesday, August 14 | 18 comments | Permalink
Who Should Be Responsible for Quality of Imported Goods?
The buck gets passed back and forth and back again. Wal-Mart blames local factories for the dangerous products being imported from China. But industry experts blame the companies importing these goods, with some calling on US retailers to step up and take responsibility for the products they’re selling.
U.S. biz blamed for dangerous Chinese products [CNN Money]
As many more U.S. companies outsource their production base to China, their poor oversight there is exposing American consumers to greater safety risks, according to some industry experts.
No doubt, the recent spate of product recalls - melamine-tainted pet food, toothpaste laced with anti-freeze and now Mattel-branded toys made with lead paint - all were made in Southern China’s low-cost manufacturing hub that’s notorious for its lax regulations.
Nevertheless, industry experts say U.S. importers that do business with these factories are more to blame than even their Chinese suppliers for allowing those unsafe products to enter the U.S. marketplace.
“U.S. law is pretty clear. The importer is responsible for quality and safety of good imported into the country,” said Erin Ennis, vice president with the U.S.-China Business Council. “But the Chinese can absolutely do more to prevent safety issues.”
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, August 03 | 7 comments | Permalink
Mattel Recalls One Million Toys with Lead Paint
If you thought every Chinese product in the country had already been recalled, think again. Yesterday Mattel recalled one million of its toys for being covered in lead paint. Not surprisingly, all of the toys were made in China, and equally unsurprising, the toys are sold at Wal-Mart. Mattel says that it contacted some retailers and had them remove the toys from their shelves, but given Wal-Mart’s history with recalls, don’t be surprised if you see the toys being sold there.
Wal-Mart should take this opportunity to show that they are serious about the safety of their customers. As the largest toy seller in the country, other companies look to them to see how to react. Wal-Mart needs to lead by example and immediately stop all sales of these dangerous products.
Mattel Recalls One Million Toys [New York Times]
Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, is recalling nearly one million toys in the United States today because the products’ surfaces are covered in lead paint.
According to Mattel, all the toys were made by a contract manufacturer in China.
The recall, the second biggest this year involving toys, covers 83 different products, manufactured between April 19 and July 6. Many of them feature “Sesame Street” and Nickelodeon characters — including the Elmo Tub Sub, the Dora the Explorer Backpack, and the Giggle Gabber, a toy shaped like Elmo or Cookie Monster that toddlers shake to hear giggles and funny noises.
Mattel says it prevented more than two-thirds of the 967,000 affected toys from reaching consumers by contacting retailers, like Wal-Mart, Target and Toys ‘R’ Us, late last week. But more than 300,000 of the tainted toys have been purchased by consumers in the United States.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, August 02 | 17 comments | Permalink
Recalls at Wal-Mart: More than Just Food
Two news stories today remind us that the dangers at Wal-Mart are not limited only to what you can eat. In one case, more than 400,000 TV stands are being recalled after many of them collapsed. In the other, Wal-Mart is still selling a dangerous baby swing, despite signs in the store that tell customers it has been recalled (upon investigation, not every store had a recall notice, but all were selling the swings). After repeatedly ignoring requests to take the swings off the shelf, Wal-Mart has finally agreed to “look into it.”
Two Denver-area Wal-Mart stores have been found to be selling a baby swing that’s the subject of Consumer Product Safety Commission recall, despite one woman’s effort to alert store management to the problem.
“I am so angry that they would jeopardize the life of a child in any way or shape,” said Joann Terry.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Media Team on Thursday, July 26 | 4 comments | Permalink
2 Down; 489,086,876,394 To Go
Phew! Wal-Mart “issued a warning” to two Chinese factories. Glad that ugly business is resolved.
Wal-Mart Cautions Two Chinese Suppliers [Wall Street Journal]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it issued warnings to two Chinese suppliers following reports of labor violations at the factories, which also make official Olympic merchandise.
The development comes after the publication of an influential report last month alleging labor violations at some official Olympic suppliers, including underpaying and overworking employees and, in one case, using child labor.
The report by Playfair, an international alliance of trade unions and nongovernmental organizations, sparked an investigation by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and other retailers as pressure rises on China to improve its human-rights and labor records ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
China is particularly sensitive to sweatshop allegations, given its status as a major apparel manufacturer producing, by some estimates, as much as half of the world’s clothes. Concern has deepened after the discovery last month of dozens of young people who had been kidnapped and used as slave labor at brick kilns and coal mines.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, July 25 | 3 comments | Permalink
View Wal-Mart Watch's videos on YouTube