The recall covers 675,000 units of various Barbie accessory toys that were manufactured between Sept. 30, 2006, and Aug. 20, 2007. The action also involves 8,900 different toys involving Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys from the company's Fisher-Price brand.Anybody who hasn't been shortin' toy company stock for the last couple of months is too stupid to live. This is obviously how China chooses to do business... and you don't turn the Queen Mary around on a dime.
Last month, Mattel vowed that it would tighten its controls at its factories in China. About 65 per cent of Mattel's toys are made in China, where about 50 per cent of Mattel's production is produced in company-owned plants.Still not too late to take a position... call your broker now.
But apparently, the controls were not strict enough, particularly when it came to overseeing Mattel's subcontractors.
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-- GUANGZHOU, China -- Chinese toy inspectors set fire to Elmo's buggy white eyes, tugged on Dora the Explorer's arms and scraped off paint samples from plastic pieces of a "Barbie hot tub party bus" kit.
The toy testers said the quality checks on Tuesday were a routine part of their efforts to make sure products were safe for American children.
The Chinese government invited foreign journalists to watch the inspections in factory tours aimed at repairing the nation's image after a series of embarrassing toy recalls sparked global fears about the "Made in China" label.
The factory tour didn't include any plants with a history of problems, and the toymakers wouldn't discuss how common it was for other companies to ignore safety standards.
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