Mattel, Fisher-Price pay $2.3M fine - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

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million civil penalty for violations of the federalk lead paint banin children’s toys. The civiol fine comes after the completed an investigation into the importing and sellinvg of toys with lead paint level s that exceededthe .06 percentg lead by weight limit that is federallg mandated. According to the CPSC, which recently craftee the Consumer Product SafetyhImprovement Act, aimed at toughening requirements for lead and phthalateas in children’s products, Mattel imported up to 900,000 non-complianf toys between July 2006 and September 2007. Fisher-Price importedc over 1 million non-compliant toys between July 2006 andSeptembetr 2007.
Among the toys in question were the popularr Sargetoy car, various Barbie products and some Go Diegp Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessivee levels of lead were shipped to retail stores for sale tothe public. In 2007, a took placwe where about 95 Matteland Fisher-Pricew toy models were determined to have exceeded the lead Lead can be toxic if ingested by young childrem and can cause serious healt h problems. The topic of lead paint in children’zs products has been a hot buttom issue asof late, with the rollout of the controversial CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturere and retailers have said the new regulationssare vague, costly and often requiring the duplicate testingg of products. Some smaller manufacturers say the laws threaten to put them out of Thiscivil penalty, which is the highest for violations involvingt importation or distribution of a regulated product, is the third highesyt of any kind in CPSC history. “Theses highly publicized toy recalls helped spur Congressional actionm last year to strengthejn CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead painfon toys,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Thomas “This penalty should serve notice to toy makerd that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducin g their exposure to lead, and to the implementatioh of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
” Mattel was unablre to be reached for comment Monday morning, though a representative said they woule have a response later in the day. Despitwe agreeing to pay $2.3 million in Mattel and Fisher-Price deny that they knowingly violatexfederal law, as alleged by CPSC staff.