As more toys are recalled in U.S., the trail ends in China

International Herald Tribune
Monday, June 18, 2007

As more toys are recalled in U.S., the trail ends in China
By Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza

WASHINGTON: China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys
recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year,
including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a
record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and
regulators.

The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas &
Friends trains and rail components - about 4 percent of all those sold
in the United States over the last two years by RC2 Corporation of Oak
Brook, Illinois The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead
paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children.

Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was
recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy
drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an
infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.

Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled
in the United States by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of
recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record.

It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of
all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.

Much of the rise in China's ranking on the recall list has to do with
its corresponding surge as the world's toy chest: toys made in China
make up 70 to 80 percent of the toys sold in the country, according to
the Toy Industry Association.

Combined with the recent scares in the United States of Chinese-made
pet food, and globally of Chinese-made pharmaceuticals and toothpaste,
the string of toy recalls is inspiring new demands for stepped-up
enforcement of safety by United States regulators and importers, as
well as by the government and industry in China.

"These are items that children are supposed to be playing with," said
Prescott Carlson, co-founder of a Web site called the Imperfect
Parent, which includes a section that tracks recalls of toys and other
baby products. "It should be at a point where companies in the United
States that are importing these items are held liable."

The toy trains and railroad pieces are made directly for RC2 at plants
it oversees in China, presumably giving it some control over the
quality and safety of the toys made there. Staci Rubinstein, a
spokeswoman for RC2, declined on Monday to comment on safety control
measures at company plants in China.

The Toy Industry Association, which represents most American toy
companies and importers, also declined to comment.

Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety
Commission, said the agency recognizes that more must be done to
prevent the importation of hazardous toys and other products from
China. "It is a big concern. And the agency is taking steps to try to
address that as quickly as possible," Vallese said. "Their businesses
will suffer if they don't meet safety standards."

Scott Wolfson, a second Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman,
would not say how long ago RC2 discovered the problem or when it first
reported it to U.S. authorities.

In the last two years, the staff of the consumer product commission
has been cut by more than 10 percent, leaving fewer regulators to
monitor the safety of the growing flood of imports.

Some consumer advocates say that such staff cuts under the Bush
administration have made the commission a lax regulator. The
commission, for example, acknowledged in a recent budget document that
"because of resource limitations," it was planning next year to
curtail its efforts aimed at preventing children from drowning in
swimming pools and bathtubs.

The toy industry in the United States is largely self-policed. The
Consumer Product Safety Commission has safety standards, but it has
only about 100 field investigators and compliance personnel nationwide
to conduct inspections at ports, warehouses and stores of $22 billion
worth of toys and tens of billions of dollars' worth of other consumer
products sold in the country each year. "They don't have the staff
that they need to try to get ahead of this problem," said Janell Mayo
Duncan, senior counsel at the Consumers Union, which publishes
Consumer Reports. "They need more money and resources to do more
checks."

Most recalls are done voluntarily, as was the case with Thomas &
Friends, after companies discover problems or receive complaints.

Among the toy recalls, the problem is most acute with low-price, no-
brand-name toys that are often sold at dollar stores and other deep
discounters, which are manufactured and sent to the United States
often without the involvement of major American toy importers. Last
year, China also was the source of 81 percent of the counterfeit goods
seized by Customs officials at ports of entry in the United States -
products that typically are not made according to the standards on the
labels they are copying.

At one of the RC2 factories in Dongguan, China, on Sunday, a pair of
workers who were paid about $150 a month to spray paint on mostly
metal toy trains six days a week said they did not know whether the
paint they used contained lead. The factory produces metal toys as
well as the wooden toys listed in the Thomas recall.

"We're just doing the painting," says Li Hong, a 22-year-old factory
worker who was sitting out in front of the factory dormitories.

Exactly who operates the factories making the Thomas & Friends trains
in Dongguan is unclear. While the zone is run by a group of Chinese or
Hong Kong suppliers, it also houses an office building that bears the
RC2 corporate logo.

China's own government auditing agency reported last month that 20
percent of the toys made and sold in China had safety hazards such as
small parts that could be swallowed or sharp edges that could cut a
child, according to a report in China Daily. Officials in China, of
course, are fighting back, insisting that its food and other exports
are safe and valuable, that new regulations are being put into place
and that problem goods account for a tiny portion of all exports.

The Toy Industry Association urges its members to routinely test
products it is importing to make sure they comply with U.S. safety
standards, which prohibit, for example, surface paint that contains
lead in toys or items that could cause a choking hazard.

Other major retailers or toy industry companies hit by recalls for
products made in China this year include Easy-Bake Ovens, made by
Hasbro, which could trap children's fingers in the oven and burn them,
and Target stores, which the consumer product commission said was
importing and selling Anima Bamboo collection games, some of which
were coated with lead paint.

The 22 models of the Thomas & Friends toys that are being recalled
include some of the most popular items in the line's collection, such
as the red James engine and the fire brigade truck. The toy line,
based on the children's book and television series, has an almost
fanatical following among some families, who own dozens of models,
which can cost $6.50 to $70 each.

The string of lead paint cases has drawn the most attention from
consumer watchdogs and parenting advice columnists.

"Do I have to look at every toy that has paint on it that comes from
China as perhaps suspect?" said Carlson, of Imperfect Parent.

Duncan, of Consumers Union, urged parents to sign up for the Consumer
Product Safety Commission's automated notification system at the
commission's Web site (www.cpsc.gov), so they can stay on top of which
toys are being recalled.

Vallese, the spokeswoman for the product safety commission, said the
agency's acting chairwoman, Nancy Nord, went to China in May for a
meeting with her counterparts there, focusing in particular on toys,
lighters, electronics and fireworks.

"Is there a concern that there are more products coming in from China
and making sure they live up to the standards we expect?" Vallese
said. "Yes, there is, and we understand our authority and obligation
and we will make sure we enforce it."

But parents shopping at for toys in New York over the weekend said the
whole episode left them uneasy.

"I think it's terrible," said Chris Gunster, 41, while perusing the
Thomas & Friends display area in Toys "R" Us at Times Square with his
wife and 4-year-old son, James, a big fan of the toy trains. "Lead
paint in this day and age?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------