China-made toys hit by huge recall

About 80 items including playsets, toy vehicles, figures and musical instruments, many connected to the Nickelodeon children’s TV network, were on the recall list.

 

 

Among them are Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer-branded toys.

 

“We won’t avoid problems, but we disapprove of ignoring the facts and of alarmism … we oppose trade protection and discrimination” Wei Chuanzhong, deputy chief, China safety watchdog

“Paint on some of these products could contain lead in excess of permissible levels,” the company said.

 

Fisher-Price, a subsidiary of Mattel, said the items were made by a contract manufacturer in China using non-approved paint pigment containing lead.

 

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission warned consumers to immediately return the recalled toys to Fisher-Price.

 

A few weeks ago a US toy company recalled wooden Thomas the Train figures which were also made in China and coloured with leaded paint.

 

The US stepped up inspections of imported Chinese goods following the death of dogs and cats after consuming pet food containing a chemical additive, one of many Chinese items found with poisonous ingredients in recent months.

 

 

But Beijing has complained that it is the victim of biased media reports which grossly overstate the depth of the quality problem and are being used to stoke protectionist demands.

 

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Fisher-Price Toys with Lead Paint Hazard Recall

China’s product quality watchdog told the US delegation, in Beijing for a five-day visit, that they were tackling food and drug safety to regain consumer confidence.

 

Wei Chuanzhong, the deputy chief of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said they only disapproved of alarmist moves.

 

“We won’t avoid problems, but we disapprove of ignoring the facts and of alarmism that takes isolated things for the whole, and we oppose trade protection and discrimination,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

 

China says 99.2 per cent of its food exports to the US in 2006 met quality standards.