LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Mattel Inc. announced its second big recall of Chinese-made toys in as many weeks, expanding a mounting crisis for the toy maker that could grow even more problematic as the holiday shopping season approaches, the WSJ reports.
The toy-making giant issued recalls Tuesday for 436,000 die-cast cars world-wide that contain lead paint. It also expanded a November 2006 recall of toys that contain magnets that can be swallowed by children. That recall now covers 18.2 million magnetic toys globally, a little more than half of which were sold in the U.S. The magnetic play sets include Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures. (See full list at bottom of article.)
The Polly Pocket and Batman recalls were announced on the company’s Web site. The recall of lead-painted cars was announced at a news conference by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington. The latest recalls follow Mattel’s announcement earlier this month that it was recalling around 1.5 million toys world-wide—including ones based on characters from Sesame Street and Nickelodeon—that may have been tainted with lead paint.
When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection, or blockage, which can be fatal.
