Mattel Recalls Spotlight Inattention to Defective Products

Courtney Mills

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Mattel's late notice of a recall to consumers of some 9 million toys in the U.S. indicates how lax oversight on goods entering into this country has become. The recall of these toys is just the latest in a series of problems experienced with Chinese-made goods in the United States: some because of lead paint contamination on toy trains, others because of DEG contamination in toothpaste, and still more concerning defective tires on trucks.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission previously has had problems with these magnetic play sets currently under recall. Reportedly, the magnetic play sets are a new technology and are cheaply produced, so the estimable damage that can be done to children has not yet been fully quantified.

Fortunately for consumers, the CPSC has determined to err on the side of caution by issuing a deliberately large recall of the toys; in the U.S. alone there are over 9 million sets that will be recalled to the manufacturer.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.