California Attorney Tom Martin’s Law Blog

Toy giant Fisher-Price announced a worldwide recall of about a million toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because they may contain excessive amounts of lead in their paint.

The company says the recall includes 83 types of its plastic preschool toys sold in the United States between May and August. A complete list of tainted toys can be found here.

In an interview with The Associated Press, David 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.

Fisher-Price and the commission issued statements saying parents should keep suspect toys away from children and contact the company. 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.

“Anytime a company brings a banned hazardous product into the U.S. marketplace, especially one intended for children, it is unacceptable,” said Nancy 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.” (Source: CNN.com.)

Fisher-Price and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are telling parents to keep suspect toys away from their kids and to contact the company with any questions.

The recall involving lead paint is a first for Fisher-Price and parent company Mattel.

If you purchased any of the recalled toys, you may have a legal claim. For further information, feel free to contact the Law Office of Thomas Glenn Martin by clicking here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 11:07 pm and is filed under Toxic Injury, Consumer Protection, Environmental Enforcement, General Legal, Informational . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.