Mattel admits "design flaw" in recalled toys, apologizes to China

In the latest twist to the ongoing saga over the Chinese manufacturing corruption, US toymaker Mattel Inc. apologized to China on Friday, admitting that the recent massive recall of Chinese-made toys was its own fault.

US Toy maker’s confession marks a dramatic U-turn in the long-running saga that has everything from toys with lead to the suicide of 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.

Chinese products have been under fire in the US and other parts of the world since April this year. In recent months, there have been overwhelming concerns globally regarding the presence of hazardous levels of lead in toys and other children-related items manufactured in China.

Mattel Inc. has recalled more than 20 million Chinese-made products. On July 31, Fisher-Price Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel Inc., in association with the CPSC issued a voluntary worldwide recall of 83 types of Fisher-Price-branded preschool toys. The agency and the toy company at that time believed the recalled toys’ surfaces were covered in lead paint. Another reason for the recall was the presence of small magnets that children could detach from the toys and swallow whole.

Lead consumption in any form, direct or indirect, can cause brain damage in children, one of the main reasons for the concern being showed globally.

Now, a senior Mattel executive said the Chinese manufacturers of the toys were not to blame for the massive recalls, and made an embarrassing admission that the recent huge product recall was due to "design flaws."

Thomas Debrowski, the Mattel executive vice president for worldwide operations, apologized personally to the Chinese product safety chief, Li Changjiang, for damaging China's reputation, at a meeting in Beijing.

Debrowski admitted it was design flaws, rather than manufacturing problems in China, that caused the vast majority of its recalls this summer, with 17.4 million items called back because of loose magnets and 2.2 million because of toxic lead paint.

"The vast majority of those products that were recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in China's manufacturers," Debrowski said at the high-profile meeting with Chinese business and political officials. "We understand and appreciate deeply the issues that this has caused for the reputation of Chinese manufacturers."

"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys," Debrowski told the head of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in Beijing.

Ever since the discovery of excessive lead in toy products, we have been seeing a spate of recalls by major toy makers. Toys “R” Us Inc., the leading U.S. toy-store chain, in association with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in August issued a voluntary worldwide recall of 27,000 China-made Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases because of dangerously high lead levels in the printed ink on the outer packaging of the wood case.

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.

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 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.

China now hopes Mattel would improve their control measure in order to avoid such mistakes in the future. During the meeting China’s safety chief Li reminded Dobrowski that Chinese factories contribute hugely in Mattel's annual profit. "This shows that our co-operation is in the interests of Mattel, and both parties should value our co-operation. I really hope that Mattel can learn lessons and gain experience from these incidents,'' Li said.