Made In China

China really has to clean up its act in coming up with more stringent quality control to be imposed on factories operating within China, whether local or foreign owned. Tight scrutiny in foreign owned factories should have been done but I think 'profit over safety' blinded those foreign owners.

In a recent case where a top China official from the food and drug administration was 'executed by the authorities' due to taking bribes from health manufacturer that produced health goods which caused death to consumer(s).

Subsequently, food products exported to USA were tainted with substance that can caused illness. Toothpaste was a big issue too.

Recent days, toys manufactured by an OEM manufacturer in China, Lida Toy Co., marketed under the Fisher-Price brand have been recalled by Mattel from throughout the world. This caused its share price to drop as much as 4% from US$23.00.

The toy products being recalled are as follows:-
* 18.2 million magnetic toys globally, including 9.5 million in the United States, with magnets or magnetic parts that can be dislodged - inclusive of 7.3 million Polly Pocket dolls and accessories with magnets, 1 million Doggie Day Care magnetic toys, 683,000 Barbie and Tanner magnetic toys, and 345,000 Batman and One Piece play sets; and
* about 253,000 Pixar Sarge die-cast toy cars with lead paint were also recalled. Lead has been linked to health problems in children, including brain damage.
* Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

After an investigation, Mattel gave an account of what has happened:-
The recall of the Sarge toy results from Mattel's increased investigation and ongoing testing procedures following the recall of select Fisher-Price toys on August 1, 2007. The toy was produced by Early Light Industrial Co., Ltd (Early Light), one of Mattel's contract manufacturing facilities in China, which subcontracted the painting of parts of the toy to another vendor, Hong Li Da (HLD), also in China. While the painting subcontractor, HLD, was required to utilize paint supplied directly from Early Light, it instead violated Mattel's standards and utilized paint from a non-authorized third-party supplier.

With dignity down the drain, the Chinese owner by the name of Zhang Shuhong had committed suicide due to the recall. That's how bad the situation is.

If you are concern as to the exact toys being recalled, you can check at Mattel's Voluntary Safety Recall Facts and click your language and respective countries. As for Fisher-Price, click its Fisher-Price's Recall Information.

Reading: What Went Wrong at Mattel - BusinessWeek
Reading: Chinese products win praise - China Daily

Tags: China Made, Toys, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Early Light Industrial Co Ltd , Hong Li Da, China, Toy Manufacturer, Recall, China Products