Toymaker's suicide & Mattel's 2nd recall intensify China's quality woes

Troubles for Chinese products doesn't seem to stop anywhere instead they are getting worse day by day. The suicide by an owner of a Chinese toy factory and a second massive recall of Mattel toys have significantly added more to the ongoing concerns over the safety of Chinese-made products.

Cheung Shu-hung, the head of Hong Kong-based Lee Der Industrial Co. whose lead-tainted Sesame Street toys were the center of a massive U.S. recall earlier this month, has killed himself Saturday at his factory's warehouse in China's southern Guangdong province, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Monday report.

The Chinese toy factory owner Cheung has committed suicide just days after Mattel identified his company as the manufacturer of one of several popular brands of China-made toys which were recalled in the United States due to the excessive levels of lead in toys’ paint.

Cheung was under pressure since El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel voluntarily recalled 967,000 tainted plastic preschool toys made by Lee Der, which cost the company $30 million. Just before committing suicide, he reportedly greeted employees, chatted with them, then went to the warehouse and hanged himself.

Fisher-Price Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel Inc., in association with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission last month had issued a voluntary worldwide recall of several popular brands of China-made toys in the United States because the products' surfaces were covered in lead paint. The agency and the toy company believed these toys’ paint contained excessive amounts of lead, which could be harmful for children’s health if taken in by them.

Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, is now all set to announce a second big recall of Chinese-made toys as early as Tuesday. This time the toys are being recalled for suspected problems with lead paint and magnets that could be harmful to children if swallowed, as per media reports on Monday.

Chinese products have been under fire in the US and other parts of the world since April this year. The incident that sparked off the drive to label Chinese products unsafe was the declaration of Chinese pet food as being ‘tainted’ by the US Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Concerns over safety of China-made products intensified all over the world after several other products from the country, including pet food contaminated with melamine and toothpaste contaminated with DEG as well as six other toys, including bracelets, charms and army toy sets, were found hazardous to health.

In June, another toy company RC2 Corp announced recall of around 1.5 million China-made Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys due to same concerns.

In its recall, RC2 included wooden vehicles, buildings and other parts for the Thomas and Friends train set bearing the logo "Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway" in the top left hand corner of the package. Theses toys were also made in China and sold during January 2005 to June 2007 for amounts between $10 and $70 US at various places in Canada and US.