Mattel destroys unsafe toys in Mexico

[douglas9]

Source: Reuters News Service

APAXCO, Mexico (Reuters) - With Christmas just weeks away, Mattel Inc destroyed more than 160,000 hazardous toys on Wednesday made by the top toymaker after they were found to contain harmful levels of lead.

Little by little, the toys recalled from Mexican stores over the past few weeks, including dolls and toy cars, were thrown into a giant crushing machine outside Mexico City to become fuel for a cement-making oven.

Mattel Mexico's spokesman Fernando Gonzalez said the recent toy recalls in Mexico, the United States and Europe had cost the company $40 million worldwide. "But that is secondary; children's safety is priceless," he added.

Mattel had recalled over 170,000 Mexican-made toy kitchens sold in the United States and Europe in early November because small pieces posed a choking hazard to young children.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2864307120071129

[Xipe Totec]

1. Burning plastics contaminated with lead?

And where, exactly, does the lead end up?

:wtf:

[bigworld]

2. it should be okay

since lead is so heavy, it should presumably drop to the bottom of the furnace. There is a host of stuff worse than lead when you burn plastic, though.

[Xipe Totec]

5. I'm afraid that's not the case

Does your county burn trash after pickup? If so, harmful lead fumes may be released into the air.

Never burn window and door frames, or pieces of furniture covered with old paint, in your fireplace or wood burning stove. These items may be covered with lead-based paint, and burning them could release dangerous lead fumes into your home and the environment.


http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/lead/homes/disposal.html

[Heywood J]

3. Okay, aside from the issues of burning lead-contaminated materials,

Now they're releasing dioxin, halogens, carbon monoxide, etc. No wonder it's being done in Mexico... Who wants to guess at what other contaminants there were that are now going straight up the chimney?



"Your children are priceless... when we're caught. That's why we're going to poison those Mexican children instead. Their standards are lower."

[bklyncowgirl]

9. The toys were recalled from Mexican stores and being destroyed by Mexican authorities

It sounds to me like the Mexican government was on the job--perhaps--dare I say--even better than the American government. If so--good for them. They lost out on a great many toy manufacturing jobs because the big manufacturers wanted to go where the wages and safety standards were lower.

[sutz12]

4. Typo.....they meant "distributed"

:evilgrin:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. perhsps they should jail the CEO of Mattel

for not having the toys tested properly and getting them manufactured on the cheap

[lumpy]

7. That is my thought. Distributers should be held responsible

for selling unsafe items to the public. Where are the safeguards that we used to depend on to look after consumer safety and concerns? This is the result of 'free trade'; husksters are 'free' to sell unsafe items to the consumer.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. it will come back to haunt them

I think they should list ALL ingredients in foods and drinks too. They conveniently miss out nasty ones.