Mattel IDs Vendor That Made Recalled Toys

(AP)  Mattel Inc. on Tuesday identified the Chinese vendor that made nearly 1 million Fisher-Price toys that were recalled last week because they may contain lead.

Mattel said Lee Der Industrial Company Ltd., located in Guangdong province, made the 967,000 toys sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the United States between May and August.

Last week, El Segundo-based Mattel recalled the plastic preschool toys, including popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters, because they were made with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, apologized to customers for the recall and said the move would cut pretax operating income by $30 million.

Mattel spokeswoman Jules Andres said Tuesday that all the toys that were recalled were made by the one vendor and that the company has "ceased accepting shipments from the facility."

Mattel has shared the name of the vendor with competitors who may also be doing business with the Chinese company, Andres said.

She said she did not know what other toys might have been made at the facility for other companies, but that the company felt it was important for competitors to have the information.

"We do not consider safety to be a competitive advantage," she said.

The Chinese vendor could not immediately be reached for comment. A man at a Lee Der Industrial Company in Guangdong province said it made cardboard boxes, not toys, while a woman who answered the phone at another number listed under the name said that company had gone bankrupt several years ago.

The Fisher-Price recall is the latest in a string of problems involving products imported from China.

In June, RC2 Corp. recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line because of lead paint. Those toys were also made in China.

Earlier this year, a Chinese-made pet food ingredient was linked to the deaths of cats and dogs in North America. Since then, Chinese goods ranging from toothpaste to tires have been banned or recalled in numerous countries.

[lorinkundert]

Just keep outsourcing the work our citizens should be doing and when enough people die or are injured from these shoddy imports you will wish you did things differently.

[jw218389]

Cheap imports from China: poisoning our kids (and us) and DESTROYING THE MIDDLE CLASS by taking US manufacturing jobs.

Anybody that tells you that Americans don't want those kind of jobs is SMOKING CRACK - or they work for these "brands" that used to actually make things but now just RELABEL CHINESE ***.

Thanks George!

[toldyouso21]

Too often I have no choice but to buy something that is foreign made but that's not corporate greed that's YOUR greed. If Americans demanded American made goods then we'd get them. But you don't. Posted by Rillifane at 12:01 PM : Aug 08, 2007

Excellent and well said. I extend this to include not supporting illegal employment in any way. I try not to eat at establishments or hire any workers from places that employ a dubious workforce. I try to not only limit my purchases of known outside sources, but also my services. I can be assured for many activities such as lawn service, painting, tile setting, carpentry, gardening, window washing, car washing and orgin of veggies and meat--that I use Americans. Most of the things above, I do myself--in the case of meat--there are lots of local farms that butcher for the public, if asked.

[toldyouso21]

robrod53 at 11:28 AM : Aug 08, 2007:
I have never belonged to a union, but I have written papers about them and studied the subject. What you write is just not true.

Unions are the only group that EVER ensured a fair wage for workers. Without them or the threat of them, most employers would pay slave wages. What caused jobs to go overseas were the lax policies on importing. American companies were slammed by cheap products allowed into America with little to no duty. Distributors made most of that money in the 1960s-1970s.

To compete or at least grab a larger share of the pie, American companies got the idea to take their product or components of their products overseas where the labor was cheaper. This really took off in the 1980s. When they could cut their costs and lower the cost of their products, they could outsell their competitors, then many other companies followed suit.

All of this has more to do with Government's failure to adequately tax imports so that domestic companies could compete fairly. We are the only Western country to do this. Europe and other western countries (and Japan) put heavy taxes on anything coming from outside into their countries and also impose huge restrictions to foreigners working or starting businesses in their countries. WHY? Because they want to protect their own job markets. We don't.

[toldyouso21]

"Mattel said Lee Der Industrial Company Ltd., located in Guangdong province, made the 967,000 toys sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the United States between May and August. "

We get more than cheap products with global markets. We get their cheap standards and health risks also. We lose jobs to them, because they cut their standards for health, safety and product quality. We should all remember this, the next time we want meds or seafood from China or elsewhere--and cheap toys and foods from other countries. I would not be surprised to learn that the dyes used in the Cheap clothes also contains lead. It is an excellant fixative --(though deadly and accumulative over time).

You really do get what you pay for--and for some of what we are getting--we will be paying for it for generations to come.

[my2centss]

And after all these years of me thinking that Fisher Price/Mattel made their own toys. No wonder there are so many knock-offs out there. End your contract, but the company still knows how to make your product, maybe better than the next outsourced company.

[olebd]

The damage is done and will affect us for years. All this toxic junk will be ending up in our landfills which will eventually release these toxins into the environment some how/some way. Cancer, autism, birth defects, etc. etc. will rise. And to think, greed and profit based business caused it all.

[dzfromsc]

Great discussion! I'm very impressed so far...most of you have very insightful comments.

davidjones11: I agree with you!
olebd: You're correct as well!
NSKDuke: I bet your right too!
MyOpinion1: Thanks for the website.
lochian: Me too!
alabamdeb: While that is possible, it is not probable. Everyone knows China has no standards. Have you studied China? Been there? Do and you'll see what I mean.
Rillifane: I refuse to shop at WalMart as well and I shop at the localy owned produce store. While I think you're correct about consumer greed, it takes more than you and me to make a change.

[rillifane]

Its interesting that we identify "corporate greed" is one of the primary problems in this issue when the real problem is "consumer greed."

Consumers buy most things based on price and couldn't care less if their fellow citizens are put out of work or if the environment is damaged.

I refuse to buy foreign made cars. I refuse to shop at Walmart. I search out American made products. I buy everything I can at mom and pop stores, farmers markets and other places that sell local products and/or support the local economy.

Too often I have no choice but to buy something that is foreign made but that's not corporate greed that's YOUR greed. If Americans demanded American made goods then we'd get them. But you don't.

[alabamdeb]

Did any of you ever stop to think that maybe, just MAYBE Mattel (a multi-BILLION dollar corporation) is using the "Chinese" manufacturer as a convenient scapegoat?