Official: Mattel fined $2.3 million for toy hazard

[Old Coot]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Toy maker Mattel Inc. and its Fisher-Price subsidiary have agreed to pay a $2.3 million civil penalty for importing and selling toys with excessive levels of lead.

The penalty is part of a settlement the companies reached with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced Friday, that the toymaker had knowingly violated a 30-year-old federal ban on lead paint in toys.

The companies deny having willfully violated the ban.

The penalty stems from a series of recalls by Mattel and Fisher-Price in 2007, when the companies recalled nearly 2 million popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and other toys because of excessive levels of lead found in the paint on the toys.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090605/ap_on_go_ot/us_toymaker_fined

[Cirque du So-What]

1. 'The companies deny having willfully violated the ban'

In my experience, NOTHING gets done in the corporate world without meetings being held for discussion beforehand - oftentimes DOZENS of meetings. I find it impossible to believe that such a decision occurred without one single person questioning the wanton disregard for children's health during this project.

IMO, the penalty is about ten times too small, based on the fact that everyone involved in the decision to import lead-painted toys is a lying sack of shit.

[mascarax]

3. Agree - they knew

What the hell is wrong with people?
Well, with the "business people", it's all the bottom line - and their pockets.

They should be penalized by getting slapped with a huge "import tax" too, along with some more zeros on their fine.

[Auggie]

4. A meeting I remember from corporate days is when it was discussed

how to save 1/4 of a cent per unit on food packaging trays. You can bet every cost of manufacture was dissected down to the last 1/4 penny here too.

[kay1864]

5. I've spent my share of time in the corporate world...

and it's entirely possible they didn't know (or didn't bother to ask). Oftentimes all the execs care about is who is the lowest-price vendor, have they had prior violations, okay then, next item on the agenda.

It's amazing how often decisions like this come down to one purchasing agent--and after that, all everyone cares about is "are we losing or making money on this one".

[salguine]

2. $2.3 million? Gimme a break. They probably have that much down in their couch cushions.

[Bluestar]

6. Former Mattel employee here

They have the absolute best quality control people in the business and the most stringent regulations, so this should not have happened. They must have made some changes since I was there that caused this to happen.

The fault lies in the execs who approved those changes, knowing that there was a risk that this would happen, and they just didn't care.