Mattel to Pay $2.3 Million Fine for Selling Toxic Lead Toys
Mattel Inc. has agreed to pay $2.3 million in fines to settle civil charges the company and its Fisher-Price division knowingly violated federal law by importing and selling two million children’s toys that contained excess toxic lead.
The sum is the largest ever assessed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission for violating U.S. import and distribution laws.
The 95 models of toys behind the record-setting fine were recalled in 2007 due to the risks of excess lead paint. They include “Sarge” cars from the Pixar movie “Cars,” accessories for Barbie toys, Geotrax train sets, Go Diego Go! Rescue Boat toys, and Bongo Band toys, the CPSC said.
All the toys in question were made in China, according to the CPSC. Mattel imported up to 900,000 toxic toys while Fisher-Price imported about 1.1 million toys with excess lead paint, according to the CPSC.
“This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act” last year, the CPSC’s Acting Chairman Thomas Moore said in a statement announcing the fine.
The new federal law mentioned by Moore was adopted in the summer of 2008 and established even stricter limits on lead paint in toys.
Children’s toys carrying toxic paint have long been associated with lead poisoning and a number of severe and permanent injuries, particularly in growing children who put toys and other items carrying the toxin in their mouths.
Mattel, in a statement issued in response to the fine, said the company “promptly took a series of steps after discovering compliance issues with some of our toys at that time.” As part of the settlement, Mattel and Fisher-Price denied they knowingly violated federal law by marketing toxic toys.
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