Mattel

Mattel's Toy Blood Pressure Cuff's Paint Was About 5% Lead

Just how much lead was in that toy blood pressure cuff Mattel were so reluctant to recall back in February? The one they said "me federal regulations and international consumer product safety standards?" Well, a reader's scientist friend working in lab tested it on the equipment there. According to his results, the amount of lead in the paint was 4-5% lead by weight. "For reference," he writes, "U.S. EPA HUD guidelines set the action limit for paint at 0.5% lead by weight. Any level over 0.5% is considered to be contaminated...Lead paint used on houses 50 years ago had lead content of 2-15%."

9:18 PM on Thu Aug 28 2008
By Ben Popken
3,343 views, 27 comments

Most discussed Antediluvian: I have a serious problem w/ the headline: "Mattel's Toy Blood Pressure Cuff Was About 5% Lead" It's WRONG. The (disturbingly more »

toxic toys

Mattel Losing Money As Manufacturing Costs Rise

Mattel is losing money as manufacturing costs in China rise, according to Bloomberg:

Sales of Barbie fell 12 percent in the U.S. as the 49-year- old doll faced competition from Hannah Montana and Ganz's Webkinz. Mattel, which recalled more than 21 million Chinese-made products in 2007, expects Chinese manufacturing costs to rise further. The yuan has climbed 10 percent against the dollar over the past 12 months, and inflation in China is near an 11-year high.

More »

1:46 PM on Mon Apr 21 2008
By Meg Marco
1,583 views, 28 comments

Latest by wwwhitney: What Mattel isn't letting on here is that the vast majority of the toys they recalled last year were recalled more »

worst company in america

Round 16: Mattel vs ATT

This is Round 16 in our Worst Company in America contest, Mattel vs AT&T.

Mattel profited off of selling millions of toys covered in lead paint, as well a toy with detachable, swallowable, magnet balls.

AT&T has managed to sully the beautiful iPhone with their customer service missteps, let the government set up shop atop internet backbones so American citizens privacies could be invaded, and seems to almost go out of its way to make it possible for customers to sign up for federally mandated dry loop/naked DSL, and otherwise experiences many of the same foibles and hijinx you would expect with any other national telephonic giant. More »

12:00 PM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Ben Popken
3,519 views, 55 comments

Latest by blackmage439: I wanted to vote for AT&T. I really did. Our first internet provider was AT&T DIALUP. Oh. My. Gawd. A more »

lead contamination

Members Of Congress Implore Mattel To "Do The Right Thing," Recall Lead-Tainted Toy Blood-Pressure Cuff

56 Members of Congress want to know why Mattel CEO Robert Eckert refuses to issue a nationwide recall for a toy blood-pressure cuff that is contaminated with lead. The affected blood-pressure cuff, sold as part of the Fisher-Price Medical Kit, was recalled exclusively in Illinois after Mattel received a complaint from State Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Legislators want Eckert to stand by a pledge made to reassure a jittery public before the holiday buying season that Mattel would 'earn back our trust with deeds, not just with words.' More »

10:12 AM on Sat Feb 2 2008
By Carey
3,157 views, 18 comments

Latest by thatgirlinnewyork: Eckert's career was first made at Kraft/Philip Morris-- obfuscation comes naturally to those who peddle toxicity--whether that be chemically-laden packaged more »

vidoes

Shank Found Inside Mattel Polly Pocket Toy

Here's a story that makes you wonder what sort of tools the workers at Mattel's factories use. A "shank" (a blade wrapped in electrical tape, to be exact) was found inside a sealed Polly Pocket toy purchased at Walmart.

Mattel apologized for the incident, saying: More »

1:19 PM on Thu Jan 17 2008
By Meg Marco
35,166 views, 57 comments

manufacturing

Poison: The High Cost Of Cheap Batteries

Cadmium batteries are cheap and safe to use, but hazardous to manufacture. They'll save you money—about $1.50 for the average cadmium-powered toy, says the Wall Street Journal. More »

1:19 PM on Tue Jan 15 2008
By Meg Marco
3,317 views, 24 comments

lead contamination

Fisher-Price Pulls Another Lead-Tainted Product In Illinois Only

Consumer Reports says that Fisher-Price has finished testing another toy blood pressure cuff and have found that it exceeds the Illinois lead limit for toys. More »

2:22 PM on Thu Dec 20 2007
By Meg Marco
1,049 views, 8 comments

toy safety

Hasbro Launches Ad Campaign Promoting Its Safety Record

Yesterday Hasbro launched a new ad campaign in certain newspapers to promote its comparatively stellar safety record with toys—it hasn't had any big ticket items show up in the lead-tainted parade this year (or to the date-rape afterparty) and it wants consumers to know. More »

6:00 PM on Thu Dec 6 2007
By Chris Walters
1,211 views, 9 comments

Latest by zolielo: Was in the LA Times... more »

lead contamination

Fisher-Price Pulls Lead Tainted Toy In Illinois Only

Illinois has tough laws when it comes to dangerous toys, and now Fisher-Price has found itself on the wrong side of the Illinois Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, according to Consumer Reports. More »

5:12 PM on Tue Dec 4 2007
By Meg Marco
2,132 views, 11 comments

chinese poison train

Only 22% Of American Importers Of Chinese Goods Have Reviewed Their Supply Chain

A survey of global manufacturers found that only 22% have reviewed their supply chain in light of the Mattel lead toy recall situation. Of that number, 1/3 said they would change how they go about evaluating suppliers. 30% said they were sending quality inspectors to overseas plants. Most of the executives said their greatest fear in doing business with China wasn't defective products, but that the Chinese would make knockoffs of their wares.

Survey: Global Manufacturers Staying Put in China [the smart cube blog]

11:35 AM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By Ben Popken
356 views, 6 comments

Latest by ZitosGhost: Thats good, most of those "quality inspectors" do not speak Chinese so behave like a fish out of water during more »

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