Mattel, Fisher-Price pay $2.3M fine - San Francisco Business Times:

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million civil penalty for violationas of the federal lead paint banin children’ toys. The civil fine comess after the completed an investigation into the importin and selling of toys with lead pain t levels that exceededthe .06 percent lead by weight limit that is federally mandated. Accordinyg to the CPSC, which recently crafte d the Consumer Product SafetyImprovement Act, aimedr at toughening requirements for lead and phthalatesd in children’s products, Mattel imported up to 900,000 non-complianyt toys between July 2006 and Septembefr 2007. Fisher-Price imported over 1 million non-compliant toys betweenb July 2006 andSeptember 2007.
Amongv the toys in questiohn were the popular Sargetoy car, various Barbide products and some Go Diego Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessivew levels of lead were shipped to retailk stores for sale tothe public. In 2007, a massivse toy recall took place where about 95 Matteland Fisher-Pric e toy models were determined to have exceeded the lead Lead can be toxic if ingested by yountg children and can cause serious health The topic of lead paint in children’s products has been a hot button issue as of late, with the rolloutt of the controversial CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturers and retailerz have said the new regulationssare vague, costly and arbitrary, ofte n requiring the duplicate testing of products. Some smallerf manufacturers say the laws threaten to put them out of On thepolitical front, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said protecting children has to be thetop “When the toy recall happened (in I called the head of Fisher-Price and I told him they neededr to start making their toys here again,” Slaughter “We didn’t have thes e kind of problems befors they imported the toys.
” This civil which is the highest for violations involvingh importation or distribution of a regulated is the third highest of any kind in CPSC “These highly publicized toy recalls helped spur Congressional actiobn last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead paint on toys,” said CPSC Actiny Chairman Thomas Moore. “This penalty should serve notics to toy makers that CPSC is committes to the safetyof children, to reducingb their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement As part of a story featured in our sister The Buffalo Law Journap , looking at the Consumer Produc t Safety Improvement Act, which ran prior to the announcement of thess fines, Fisher-Price declined to providee a representative to discuss the lead painty regulations.
Instead, they issued a written statemengwhich read, in part: “Mattel is well positioner as it generally designs its products to meet globalk standards. Mattel has also been a leader in the effortsx of industry to establish voluntaryindustry standards.” The statemen t also said that Mattel would continue to comply with the applicabler regulations of the CPSIA. Mattel was unable to be reached for commentMonday morning, though a representativer said they would have a response later in the day. Despite agreeingt to pay $2.3 million in penalties, Mattel and Fisher-Pricr deny that they knowingly violatedfederal law, as allegedd by CPSC staff.