Mattel issues toys recall

WorldScreen.com reports Mattel has announced a recall of 1.5 million Fisher-Price toys made in China featuring Sesame Street and Nickelodeon characters over concerns about lead paint, in a move that is expected to cost the toy giant $30 million.

Mattel says it has launched a fast-track recall in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide. Mattel is also working with retailers worldwide to identify affected products, have them removed from retail shelves and intercept incoming shipments and stop them from being sold.

This is yet another concern raised about goods from China, after concerns over fish, toothpaste and animal feed. The deaths of patients in Panama earlier this year was blamed on improperly labelled Chinese chemicals that were mixed into cough syrup.

Reuters reports the US is working on deals with China to bolster safety controls on Chinese-made foods and medical products, as international consumer alarm continued to pummel Beijing, who have criticised foreign media for "hyping" the problems of a small minority of goods or companies.

"When problems occur, we never shirk, have always sought truth from the facts and responsibly deal with them," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said in a statement on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce Web site (english.mofcom.gov.cn).