Export Data News
- Toymakers' export licenses canceled
Date: 10-Aug-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE government has banned two factories from exporting toys after a high-profile recall of Mattel products including Big Bird and Elmo because of fears about lead in paint.
The government stripped export licenses from Hansheng Wooden Products Factory and Lida Toy Co., both based in Guangdong, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site Thursday.
Lead is toxic and can pose serious health risk to young children who often put objects in their mouths.
Hansheng, based in Dongguan, was the producer of 1.5 million wooden vehicles, buildings and other train-set toys sold in the United States from January 2005 through June 2007, and then voluntarily recalled by U.S. toymaker RC2 Corp., an Illinois-based company that imports the popular 'Thomas & Friends?toys.
About 1.5 million preschool toys made by Lida Toy, a Foshan-based contract manufacturer for Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price unit, were recalled across the globe by the U.S. company last week.
Mattel said the toys, which include popular characters such as Elmo, Cookie Monster and Dora, could have contained excessive amounts of lead in their surface paint.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the problem was with Lida's paint supplier, which had provided 'fake lead-free?paint for use in production.
It ordered the companies to correct their problems and said police were investigating.
But it defended the made-in-China brand and said the overwhelming majority of toys met American standards. Of about 300,000 batches for export, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission had only made about 29 recalls, it said.
It added that importers and 'brand?companies also had a 'very big responsibility?and that it hoped that foreign toy brands further improve product design and supervision and control to prevent loopholes in toy quality and safety.
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