ALERT : Fisher-Price to Recall Nearly 1M Toys

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Fisher-Price to Recall Nearly 1M Toys

Wednesday August 1, 7:51 pm ET

By Anne D'Innocenzio and Natasha T. Metzler, Associated Press Writers

Fisher-Price to Recall Almost a Million Toys Worldwide Because of Lead

in Paint

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of

toys -- including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego

characters -- because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic

preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States

between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has

heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.

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The recall is the first for Fisher-Price Inc. and parent company

Mattel Inc. involving lead paint. It is the largest for Mattel since

1998 when Fisher-Price had to yank about 10 million Power Wheels from

toy stores.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Allmark,

general manager of Fisher-Price, said the problem was detected by an

internal probe and reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recall is particularly alarming since Mattel, known for its strict

quality controls, is considered a role model in the toy industry for

how it operates in China.

Fisher-Price and the commission issued statements saying parents

should keep suspect toys away from children and contact the company.

The commission works with companies to issue recalls when it finds

consumer goods that can be harmful. Under current regulations,

children's products found to have more than .06 percent lead

accessible to users are subject to a recall.

Allmark says the recall was " fast-tracked, " which allowed the company

to quarantine two-thirds of the toys before they even made it to store

shelves. In negotiating details of the recall, Fisher-Price and the

government sought to withhold details from the public until Thursday

to give stores time to get suspect toys off shelves and Fisher-Price

time to get its recall hot line up and running. However, some news

organizations prematurely posted an embargoed version of the story online.

Allmark said the recall was troubling because Fisher-Price has had a

long-standing relationship with the Chinese vendor, which had applied

decorative paint to the toys. Allmark said the company would use this

recall as an opportunity to put even better systems in place to

monitor vendors whose conduct does not meet Mattel's standards.

He added: " We are still concluding the investigation, how it happened.

.... But there will be a dramatic investigation on how this happened.

We will learn from this. "

The recall follows another high-profile move from toy maker RC2 Corp.,

which in June voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys

and set parts from its & Friends Wooden Railway product line.

The company said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made

in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contain lead, affecting

26 components and 23 retailers.

" Anytime a company brings a banned hazardous product into the U.S.

marketplace, especially one intended for children, it is

unacceptable, " said Nord, acting chair of the Consumer Product

Safety Commission. " Ensuring that Chinese-made toys are safe for U.S.

consumers is one of my highest priorities and is the subject of vital

talks currently in place between CPSC and the Chinese government. "

ley, president of the Toy Industries Association, praised

Mattel's quick response to the problem, and suggested Mattel will use

this setback as a lesson for not only the company but for the entire

industry. However, he expressed concern about how the recall and other

toy recalls will play out in consumers' minds in advance of the

holiday season.

" We are worried about the public feeling, " said ley, adding he

observed how toy companies are embracing strict controls during a

recent toy safety seminar in China. " We have thought all along that

(consumers) can be confident in the products, " he said. " But if

companies like Mattel have this, then you have to ask how did this

happen? "

Owners of a recalled toy can exchange it for a voucher for another

product of the same value. To see pictures of the recalled toys, visit

http://www.service.mattel.com. For more information, call Mattel's

recall hot line at .

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York.

Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov