Mattel and Fisher-Price to pay $2.3 million penalty for violating lead paint ban

[M_Smith]

Mattel and Fisher-Price to pay $2.3 million penalty for violating lead paint ban

[SIZE=-1] Mattel and its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, have agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty?the largest of its kind?for violating the federal lead paint ban. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the penalty "resolves CPSC staff allegations that Mattel and Fisher-Price knowingly (as defined in the Consumer Product Safety Act) imported and sold children?s toys with paints or other surface coatings that contained lead levels that violated a 30-year-old federal law."

The civil penalty, which is the highest for violations involving importation or distribution of a product regulated by the CPSC and is the third highest of any kind in CPSC history, settles the following allegations:

• Mattel imported up to 900,000 non-compliant toys between September 2006 and August 2007, including the ?Sarge? toy car and numerous Barbie accessory toys, and distributed most of them to its retail customers for sale to U.S. consumers. The ?Sarge? car was recalled in August 2007 and the Barbie toys were recalled in September 2007. *
• Fisher-Price imported up to 1.1 million non-compliant toys between July 2006 and August 2007, including certain licensed character toys and the Bongo Band, GEO TRAX locomotive, and Go Diego Go Rescue Boat toys. Most of these toys were distributed to retail stores for sale to consumers. The licensed character toys, including Sesame Street favorites and Dora the Explorer, were recalled in August 2007, the Bongo Band and GEO TRAX toys were recalled in September 2007, and the Go Diego Go Boat toys were recalled in October 2007.

The year 2007 became known as the "Year of the Recall" because of the multiple toy recalls. Of the 138 toys recalled that year, 97 were for lead paint violations. In a press conference announcing the penalty, CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said that the agency has more active cases involving lead paint violations but that had no further cases were pending against Mattel or Fisher-Price. "This is a settled case," he said.

We are pleased that the CPSC is exercising its authority to find companies that flaunt their laws. This should put other companies on notice that they need to ensure they are not bringing non-compliant and unsafe toys onto the market.

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Subscribe now![/SIZE]
Subscribe to [SIZE=-1]ConsumerReports.org[/SIZE] for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. [SIZE=-1]Update your feed preferences[/SIZE]