Barbie Manufacturer Fined Record $2.3 Million for Importing Hazardous Toys From China

A young girl holds a Barbie doll next to a display of Barbie toys and accessories, made by Mattel. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

California-based Mattel, Inc., and its Fisher-Price subsidiary will pay $2.3 million for knowingly importing and later recalling approximately 2 million lead-tainted toys. The penalty, imposed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is the highest ever given for violating import and distribution regulations in the country.

According to CPSC, Mattel imported 900,000 toys with hazardous levels of lead between September 2006 and August 2007. The toys were distributed to retail customers in the United States. Later, the “Sarge” cars identified as non-compliant were withdrawn from the market. The same happened to the “Barbie” toys, recalled in September 2007.

At the same time, Mattel and Fisher-Price denied they knowingly violated federal law, as alleged by CSPC, the consumer safety commission said.

“This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposure to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act,” said the CPSC’s Acting Chairman Thomas Moore.

That act, signed in 2008, imposed even stricter regulations on lead paint in toys.

The incident with imported dangerous toys stirred a debate in the U.S. Congress over the safety of products imported from China, including milk products and heparin, a major ingredient in some medicines.

Exposure to lead from toys can cause lead poisoning, which can lead to delays in mental development of children, anemia, and kidney diseases.