3rd Mattel Recall

Crystalina wrote: Link


I'm over it. I will shut my mouth as not to start a debate.

Anthony275 replied: is somebody just doing this on purpose to cost companies more money?

MommyToAshley replied: I am not sure if you heard about this but Toys R Us also recalled the imaginarium paint sets. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...eedName=topNews

And GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I hate this, it makes me want to just cry. I am afraid to give Ashley any toy.

gr33n3y3z replied:
Not at all this is why they are still finding things this is from mattel

Last month, Mattel vowed that it would tighten its controls at its factories in China. About 65 percent of Mattel’s toys are made in China, where about 50 percent of Mattel’s production is produced in company-owned plants. But apparently, the controls were not strict enough, particularly when it came to overseeing Mattel’s subcontractors

Now they are finding everything prolly with more to come from Mattel
AND I think its funny that it hit Mattel so hard this time bc of using outside the US subcontractors. They are a USA plant keep it here Give our ppl. jobs not the overseas ppl. I feel for the kids though and parents for dealing with this company

Kirstenmumof3 replied: How do you find out wich toys have been recalled. Claudia has 3 Dora playsets, but I'm not sure if these have been recalled. I just can't believe this, how could this continue to happen!

ZandersMama replied: ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!

%#&@*(#^%@$!!

my kids are going to be playing with pots and pans!

Kaitlin'smom replied: dang, so far I have not seen any of Kaitlin's favorites on list YET, but it does have me worried about older things and if they are even safe. I guess its time to clean out her room again and box up anything I think might be unsafe and let her play with clothes, art stuff, and tupperwear..........this is just crazy

grapfruit replied:
Try this site to search for recalls.

Crystalina replied:
Thank you for posting that. I'm so tired of this. There are enough Americans that need the work and I'm sure would love to work for the company but they would rather save a buck. I'm so tired of cheap Americans outsourcing!! It's pretty bad when you can't even find a dang American flag made in America!

....and I said I would keep my mouth shut.

moped replied: I nearly died when I saw it on the TV int he elevators at work - too funny

Calimama replied: wow.

lisar replied: OMG.... Enough is enough. I already had to take 3 things from Raygen that were recalled.

And I agree make them here in the USA or Canada and we wouldnt be having this problem.

dylansmom01 replied: What are these folks thinking.......

gr33n3y3z replied:
your right just to save a buck

Our Lil' Family replied: I've asked my DH (2nd year med student) and he says that unless the paint is chipping off and the child is eating it, it's fine. We have one of the Cars Sarg toys that was recalled and I'm not really concerned, he certainly doesn't put it in his mouth and I'll watch it for paint flakes.

BAC'sMom replied: Where's the pull my hair out smiley

Crystalina replied:

BAC'sMom replied: Mine's better

jcc64 replied: Guys, I just want to remind you that these problems are by no means limited to Mattel products. They have been proactive in investigating the safety issue in light of the earlier recalls- and some of these discoveries were unearthed by their own internal audits. There are certainly smaller, less scrupulous companies NOT testing, but that doesn't mean their products are any safer. So far, our own gov't has done very little to step in and protect our littlest consumers, and don't expect them to. This administration, as we all know, is extremely anti-regulation, and refuses to put the well being of our citizens ahead of the needs and wants of the business community. If you feel angry that your kids are being endangered by their toys, remember this next time you pull the lever for somone who demonizes "big government."
We've discussed this before. It's very easy to demand that the toys be made in America or Canada. But I highly doubt that consumers would accept a doubling of the retail price of familiar products- which is probably what would occur if production occurred stateside. We can't have it both ways. Companies went to China b/c consumers demanded lower prices, and that's what they got. Dealing with China from a business perspective is a huge PITA, believe me. It was a minefield of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and deceptions. There are LOTs of people along the way willing to look the other way when the product doesn't meet standards, and they're not all Chinese, either.
When you go to China, you get rock bottom prices, but you certainly pay for it across the board- lower standards and quality, bad service, dishonest business practices, worker exploitation, gov't cover-ups, etc... But if your kid wants a Barbie, and one costs $5 and the other costs $15 b/c it was made in Michigan, mark my words, the cheap one is gonna sell out and the expensive one is gonna gather dust on the shelf. Business is just following the money trail........

jcc64 replied: This is a must read for anyone interested in the big picture of toy safety in the US.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/09/06/lead_in_toys/

Crystalina replied:
I agree that the cheaper will sell first but if I knew that I could buy American made I would pay the difference. I do not blame the Chinese at all, just as I do not blame the Mexicans for coming over here and working cheaper. I 100% blame Americans. The Chinese are only getting jobs for themselves (can't blame them there) and the Mexicans who come here and work cheaper and are usually illegal, collect their pay and send most of it back t Mexico are not to blame. They found someone to employ them for cheaper wages and will ask no questions. I don't blame the other countries or the illegals. It's the Americans creating this and we are also the first ones to complain about it so go figure that one. I'm just as guilty as the next person for buying things not made here but I do try to be aware and I will pay more. I just really get excited when I find something made here 100%. That includes the materials as well. Alot of time you can find something made here but that only means "assembled" or vise versa. It will be assembled here but the different pieces are made somewhere else. Heck, Harley Davidson isn't even 100% American made anymore.

jcc64 replied: Yeah, but Crystal, not everyone can afford to pay more, whether they want to or not. And those are the people who are really getting screwed. They also happen to be the people whose fortunes have taken a turn for the worse with the migration of manufacturing jobs overseas. So, to summarize- people lose their jobs b/c of cheap foreign imports, and then have to rely on those same discount products because they are not economically able to buy safer goods. Looks like they got screwed coming and going, huh?

And I do disagree with your contention that the Chinese are blameless here. I have no qualms with the workers- in fact, I have great sympathy for the workers, many of whom are exploited horrendously. But the upper management and lax gov't supervision of its factories, have everything to do with this situation.

A&A'smommy replied: they only good thing about all this is that they ARE informing us about this!! I just hope they fix the problem!!! This is really starting to freak me out!!

MommyToAshley replied:
That's what worries me about this class action law suit against Mattel. They did find and disclose the problem all on their own. Some of these smaller companies are probably less likely to investigate any potential problems for fear of finding lead on their toys. Or if there is a problem, they are more likely to cover it up for fear of being sued.

jcc64 replied: That's exactly right, Dee Dee. And no one should assume that simply b/c a toy hasn't been listed on a recall that is safe. It only means it hasn't been tested.

MommyToAshley replied:
I have been thinking about this a lot, and I would be willing to pay more for a toy if there was some sort of independent group that tested toys for safety... overall safety, not just lead. They could simply put some sort of stamp on the product so that parents would know to look for that stamp and that the product can be trusted... without having to research where and how the product was made. (or maybe even have a rating system like we do for cars) I realize this could raise the cost of the product another 10% or even 20%, but I would be willing to pay that for the peace of mind it would bring. The problem I see is that if it is not mandatory for all toy makers to submit their products for testing, then the people in the lower-income levels may have no choice but to buy the cheaper toys that weren't submitted to testing. And children living in poverty deserve to be just as safe as those with wealthier parents.

I don't know what the answer is, but something should be done. This is ridiculous and I am sure, as you said Jeanne, that there are alot more toys out there that are not safe.

My2Beauties replied: Oh this is really starting to pee me off. Everytime I see a toy commerical on TV and think about Hanna's b'day and Christmas coming up..I cringe because I'm afraid to buy it for her. Ugh!