BEIJING, Aug. 13, 2007
China Says Toy Company Boss Killed Himself
Factory Made Nearly A Million Toys Recalled In U.S. Due To Lead Paint
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Some of the Fisher- Price toys subject to recall, including "Go Diego Go Mountain Rescue," and "Birthday Dora," right, are seen on a store shelf Monday, Aug. 1, 2007, in Alexandria, Va. (AP)
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Zhang Shuhong, who ran the Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd, killed himself at a warehouse over the weekend, days after China said it had temporarily banned exports by the company, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.
Lee Der made 967,000 toys recalled earlier this month by Mattel Inc. because they were made with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The plastic preschool toys, sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the U.S., included the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters.
An official who answered the telephone at Lee Der on Monday said he had not heard of the news.
The suicide comes less than a week after Mattel's announcement identifying Lee Der Industrial, in Guangdong province, as the manufacturer of the toys, which were sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the United States between May and August.
Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, at that time apologized to customers for the recall and said the move would cut pretax operating income by $30 million.
Mattel spokeswoman Jules Andres said on August 7th that all the toys that were recalled were made by the one vendor and that the company has "ceased accepting shipments from the facility."
She added that Mattel has shared the name of the vendor with competitors who may also be doing business with the Chinese company.
The Mattel spokeswoman said she did not know what other toys might have been made at the facility for other companies, but stressed that Mattel felt it was important for its 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.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 72 Comments- Head of Halliburton commits suicide, says he's sorry for defrauding American taxpayers and supporting Iraq war.
- Several Pharmaceutical company execs suffer fatal heart attacks caused by side effects from their own drugs
And, oh so many more I'd love to see, but not enough room to list them all!
Posted by brianbwb at 02:12 AM : Aug 13, 2007
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Persons that committ suicide are COWARDS....not heroes,or persons of honor...they are too cowardly to FACE their responsibilities...they leave that for someone else to do!
It's a shame that Zhang Shuhong chose to committ suicide, which is murder. My sympathies to his family and colleagues...those he left with unanswered questions...those he left to grieve because of his selfishness.
Hmm... or maybe, the more likely scenario is he had a little 'HELP' know what I mean?
Hey lefties, let me get this straight...this is Bush's fault too, right. I'd love to be a lefty, but I don't understand their "logic" yet.
Hey lefties, let me get this straight...this is Bush's fault too, right. I'd love to be a lefty, but I don't understand their "logic" yet.
You don't know much about Chinese culture, do you?
Our Western society considers suicide a cowardly act. That is not the case in many other cultures; in fact, it is considered an honorable obligation to do so when one has managed a grand screw-up. You are judging other cultures in the same way that we mis-managed Iraq - arrogantly not bothering to learn about the customs of the people we're dealing with - which fact has only recently been brought to the forefront. On a purely personal note, if Zhang deliberately manufactured potentially hazardous toys for our children, whether he committed suicide or would have been executed by the Chinese government makes no difference to me.
You don't know much about Chinese culture, do you?
Our Western society considers suicide a cowardly act. That is not the case in many other cultures; in fact, it is considered an honorable obligation to do so when one has managed a grand screw-up.
Posted by luvcomments at 03:31 AM : Aug 13, 2007
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You are correct...I don't know much about
Chinese cultures. I still have the same feelings I wrote about...suicide is cowardly and wrong.
I guess the Chinese are still lacking in human rights issues. Thanks for letting me know!
Hey lefties, let me get this straight...this is Bush's fault too, right. I'd love to be a lefty, but I don't understand their "logic" yet.
Posted by njr148
xxxxx
The whole rotten bunch are LIARS....
Here comes the N.A.U. whether you like it or not via THIS administration.... How about our government HELPING send illegals money out of our country?
http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=4402
How about that meeting to finalize it this week?
On August 20-21, President Bush will join Mexican PresidentCalderon and Canadian Prime Minister Harper for the second Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit.
http://www.grassfire.org/89/petition.asp?RID=13638874
And why are we expected to pour our tax money into roads and bridges so foreigners can buy them and charge us to use our own roads?
http://www.alternet.org/story/57254/?page=2
And - according to the "world bank" -
Mexico is doing REAL well economically and with their job prospects - so why the theft of $$$ in EVERY form from the U.S. taxpayers that are SLIPPING into poverty?
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=21623
What a disaster for the fabrication plant and the people who work there!
Is the identity of the fabrication plant some kind of confidential information? Such things should be completely public and well known - for safety sake.
Why is it difficult to contact this company? That is also troubling.
What is going on with the paint used in toy manufacturing. Is the specification given by the toy designer lax or given by the fab lax or is the paint maker QC no good or is there fraud somewhere?
These stories could use much more info.
What happens to the workers now?
I myself had two of the lead painted toys in my home and got rid of them. Luckily my daughter doesn't really put them in her mouth, or even play with me that much yet...she is more interested in her brothers toys.
I hope all parenst who had these toys have taken the appropriate action of repplacing or getting rid of these toys so their children will be protected.
This would include presidents and heads of state.
It easy to say just stop importing all Chinese products, a country we owe almost 1 trillion dollars to! Unfortunately, many products we buy simply are not made in the USA, especially household electronics.(HDTVs, Cell Phones, etc). Most of those come from China, Japan, or Korea. If they did start to ban imports from China, and start making those products here, expect prices to go way up! The problem is the American consumer is addicted to low cost Chinese products, which is why stores like Wal-Mart are so popular.
The workers who assembled and decorated the toys are certainly not at fault. Yet they are being punished without regard.
I am unimpressed by the behavior of Mattel.
I guess we will not see Mattel close their executive offices because of this.
No Mattel Execs will commit ritual suicide either.
The question still remains whether any Mattel Execs will even be fired.
This hapless Chinese man was probably met in some Bejing alley by Karl Rove wearing a trenchcoat saying, "Hey buddy, want to buy some paint?" in his best Charlie Chan accent. If you can't trust Karl Rove in a trenchcoat, who can you trust?
I am sure the Chinese government had nothing to do with this and were also totally unaware of the child slaves in the brick factories also....
I am sure the Chinese government had nothing to do with this and were also totally unaware of the child slaves in the brick factories also....
Posted by ug_boy at 10:16 AM : Aug 13, 2007"
Bad sarcasm or deceit?
Anyway:
No such autopsy report.
It is the Chinese government that is shutting down the brick factory slave trade.
Any US company dealing with an offshore company who has that attitude should be just as liable and suffer the same punishment.
F#&K these imbeciles that run the Chinese slave market and same to companies like Mattel that screw America by going overseas to build factories or just using foreign factories. You hurt the USA economy either way. You're morons for using an enemies help.
It's like Coke paying to use Pepsi's factories and distribution. Do you think maybe there is some competition that may deter them from doing what you paid them to do???????????????????????
You morons. What next? Col. Sanders secret recipe to be guarded by the North Koreans, (you remember the N Korenas that had their people eating grass because they used most all their budget on the military?) Also lets have the North Koreans inspect our nuclear weapons to be sure they are in good working order.
Way to go greedy companies you got what you deserve.
I think it would be worthwhile to review Mattel's actions to see how they allowed this to happen.
Japan.... takes 19 hours to build a car...
United States... takes 19 hours to fix all the errors on the already built car...
2. You can't blame every corporation when everyone wants everything so cheap. You complain about having to pay $20 for a shirt so it gets outsourced and you pay $5. BUY AMERICAN or stop complaining. All you people shopping at WalMart only feed the plague. WalMart imports more products from China than any other retailer AND they treat thier employees and venders like dirt not to mention the terrible customer service. Just google "WalMart" and "class action" and see how many law suits there are against WalMart, some of them very legitimate. Matel lost alot of money doing what they did but they did it to keep customers in the future. You should be mad at the low standards China has and the complete disrespect for our laws. They don't care if there is lead in the paint on our toys. So what if American children die? They want that! They ARE STILL COMMUNIST!
3. If you can't buy American, at least buy Japanese. The Chinese hate the Japanese and the Japanese can't take over our money at this point in time.
4. This is not about Republican or Democrat...get off that soapbox.
Some of you have researched, some of you haven't, many of you need to.
that is probably the first educated comment I have heard on this topic... way to go
I was a political science major at Winthrop University and I spent my final semester studying South East Asia including China. That was of course before many of these scandals came to light. My professor, Dr. M. Wilson, spent alot of time in China and was very insightful about thier culture.
I've had relatives who worked at WalMart AND who were venders and I know they all got treated badly.
And I'm so sick of the Republican/Democrat fight. So many people don't even affiliate with a party now. They register independent and do a split ticket.
Unfortunately, I strongly disagree with most of your comments, except for the encouragement to "buy American."
Congratulations on your Poli-Sci degree. However, some business and economics graduates may agree with this:
You can't blame the pursuit of cheaper products on the people who shop a discount retailers like WalMart. It is somewhat of a 'chicken-and-egg' situation. What came first; people's pursuit of cheaper products causing lower wages, OR, lower wages causing people to shop for cheaper products?
Some business executive somewhere first decided to outsource his labor and/or his manufacturing to China or some Asian country. Company 'B' found that Company 'A' was making significantly higher profits because of the outsourced labor/manufacturing. Thus, Company 'B', in order to compete, had to either follow what Company 'A' was doing or lower the wages on their workers here in America. And thus begun the avalanche of lower wages and in most cases, a lower standard of living for the American Middle Class workers!
Our economic system of free-market capitalism allows for the greed that causes this ever decreasing standards, both for jobs and quality of products produced...
...all for the almighty dollar!
The root of the lower wages/lower standard of living is not solely caused by people shopping at Walmart, and it is NOT caused solely by Walmart alone.
Look at your home theater/home computer type of electronics. You may have bought them at Best Buy, Circuit City, or some other big-box retailer, but I guarantee that they are not made in America.
Oh, and buying Japanese is somewhat laughable since many Japanese companies have outsourced their manufacturing to China and other Asian countries as well, (specifically the Japanese electronics companies).
Manufacturing in Japan is also very expensive as it is in America. And again, if the competitor companies are manufacturing in China, then you either have to follow suit, or find another line of business.
As for buying "American", patriotism is nice, but if the similar products don't have a clearly higher level of quality than an import...
...then there is no incentive to buy American! Try telling a family man, making around $40,000 a year, to pay twice as much for clothing for his children... for what?..... To hopefully allow a few workers in a factory in Alabama a few more days or weeks of employment (at near minimum wage)?
Greed, allowed by free-market capitalism, is the core of the problem. And since this country was built on capitalism, it will be hard to shift away from this current system.
Somewhere between Socialism and Capitalism is a 'happy medium' or a suitable compromise, (I believe).
"Sub-human FILTH!"
Geez, are you talking about yourself again?!
If you can't find an American made tennis shoe you could always buy a Canadian made tennis shoe.:)
"Yeah, Zhang Shuhong committed 'suicide' when a government official put a gun to his head and fired :)"
Perhaps Donald Trump could try this to raise his ratings ...
"Zhang Shuhong, you're fired ... Bill (who is filling in for George), show him the door (i.e. let him have it) ..."
BAM!
Can you see the ratings sky-rocket, especially amongst those gun-slinging NRAs?
Capitalism does have very serious problems. I would have to agree with you about that.
Who let company A outsource in the first place? The government should have been protecting America's assets, not shipping them off to China.
I'd rather it say made in Japan than made in China.
I didn't say WalMart or shopping at WalMart was the only reason but it certainly doesn't help the situation.
Unions are no longer doing what they were intended to do.
And maybe that family man making $40,000 can't afford to buy American clothes, but some people can.
We should re-use and recycle...it can't make anything worse.
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