First Thomas the Tank Engine, now Big Bird, Dora and Elmo.
The list of lead paint-infested toys made in China keeps getting longer.
Here’s the A.P. account: Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead. The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.
Elmo’s annoying cackle has hurt plenty of adult brains. Now he can damage your child’s brain, for real.
Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industries Association, expressed concern about how the recall and other toy recalls will play out in consumers’ minds in advance of the holiday season.
“We are worried about the public feeling,” said Keithley, adding he observed how toy companies are embracing strict controls during a recent toy safety seminar in China. “We have thought all along that (consumers) can be confident in the products,” he said. “But if companies like Mattel have this, then you have to ask how did this happen?”
How do you think it happened? U.S. toy corporations have everything made in China in order to increase profits. Chinese manufacturers have less supervision than Britney Spears’ children.
Still, it’s hard to get to worked up about this. Prior to 1978 in the United States, lead paint was pretty much a hors d’oeuvre. Erector sets and Tinker Toys probably had a mercury glaze on them because it made them nice and shiny.
We all ended up OK, ew t’ndid?