Toy group approves safety plan
The U.S. Toy Industry Assn., whose members include Mattel Inc. and Hasbro Inc., said Monday that its board unanimously approved a plan for a new testing system after the recall of tens of millions of Chinese-made toys last year.
The proposal includes more-stringent procedures for analyzing safety during the design and manufacturing of toys, as well as the testing of finished products, said Joan Lawrence, a vice president of the group. The proposal applies to the industry, not just the association’s members, Lawrence said.
The $22-billion U.S. toy industry was rocked last year by the recall of tens of millions of Chinese-made products, many for containing excessive lead paint or magnets that could be swallowed. Toy makers and retailers have implemented stricter standards and Congress has introduced legislation to overhaul safety laws.
“The industry takes the issue of the recalls in ’07 very seriously,” Lawrence said. “We have created a very aggressive program to fix the lapse we saw in the safety assurance process.”
The new standards come during the American International Toy Fair this week in New York. More than 1,200 exhibitors will show their 2008 line to 15,000 buyers and 21,000 toy industry professionals.
Toys R Us Inc., the largest U.S. toy store chain, said last week that it would adopt standards for surface lead paint that were stricter than the U.S. government’s. It would also require manufacturers to increase testing of their products by outside laboratories for all shipments on or after March 1.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is implementing the same lead paint standards for new toys as Toys R Us. As of March, Wal-Mart will require all new and reordered toys to be tested by independent labs.
Toys R Us, based in Wayne, N.J., and El Segundo-based Mattel, the world’s largest toy maker, also are ending the use of nickel-cadmium batteries. Toys R Us said it told manufacturers to stop using the batteries in toys made exclusively for the retailer by year-end.
Mattel, maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, is starting a pilot program to replace all nickel-cadmium batteries with nickel-metal hydride ones because they are manufactured more safely. The company plans to phase out nickel-cadmium batteries by the end of the year because of the “potential environmental risks involved,” spokeswoman Lisa Marie Bongiovanni said.
The Toy Industry Assn.’s proposal is meant to work in conjunction with congressional legislation, which calls for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to create a certification program or to designate an outside group to do so.
Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord said at the Toy Fair on Monday that there was “no excuse” for companies to not comply with the lead paint ban. She said there would be civil penalties against companies that violated the law in 2007. The agency hasn’t decided the details of the penalties, a spokesman said.
