Mattel fined $2.3 million over lead in toys

On June 5, Bloomberg reported that Mattel and Fisher-Price (a subsidiary) have agreed with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to resolve pending complaints over selling Chinese-made toys with hazardous levels of lead.  The settlement relates to the sale of 95 tainted toys, including Barbie accessories.  Mattel imported about 900,000 illegal toys from September 2006 to August 2007.  Fisher-Price reportedly imported another 1.1 million during the same period.  Ultimately Mattel recalled almost 21 million toys.  Unfortunately, the current statistics suggest that only a small proportion of recalled toys are actually removed from circulation.