Friday, September 04, 2009
Recalled Batman toy
Last summer, after numerous types of toys were recalled because of unsafe concentrations of lead, Congress mandated that all toy manufacturers submit their products to independent testing to ensure compliance with new safety rules. Among the companies caught selling toys with dangerous levels of lead was Mattel, and its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, which combined were responsible for six kinds of recalled toys. And yet it is Mattel that has been granted a waiver by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to use its own labs for testing and avoid third-party evaluations of its products.
Michael Green, executive director of the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, said it was “really ironic that the company that was a principal source of the problem” is being given favorable treatment from the safety commission. He added that the waiver gives Mattel a competitive advantage since it does not have to spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars, per test on independent labs, which rival companies must do.
Mattel officials say the government gave them permission to use their own “third party” labs located at their overseas factories in Mexico, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Third-party Safety Tests Not Required for Mattel (by Jennifer Kerr, Associated Press)
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