China takes steps to ensure toy safety

The recent recall of potentially unsafe toys in the United States and other countries, has prompted the Chinese Commerce Ministry to take steps to ensure toy safety.

New Delhi, Aug.17 : The recent recall of potentially unsafe toys in the United States and other countries, has prompted the Chinese Commerce Ministry to take steps to ensure toy safety.

Toy producers' self-regulatory mechanisms will also be improved to ensure quality, ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei was quoted by The China Daily, as saying.

Addressing reporters in Beijing on Thursday, Wang said: "China is a responsible country. We'll investigate the cases and deal with offenders according to the law."

On Tuesday, Mattel Inc - the world's largest toy company - issued a global recall of 19 million made-in-China toys either with lead-tainted paint or containing small magnets that could be swallowed by children.

The action came nearly two weeks after Mattel ordered a recall of 1.5 million Chinese toys because their paint contained too much lead.

In June, about 1.5 million wooden railway toys, exported from China and distributed by RC2 Corp, were also recalled because of lead paint.

Two Chinese toymakers involved in the earlier two recalls have been banned from exporting, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said last week.

However, Wang reiterated that toys from China, the exporter of 70 percent of the world's toys, were safe.

Experts said US manufacturers and importers should also be blamed for putting "relentless" pressure on Chinese suppliers.

"The vendors are squeezed to the point where they aren't making a profit anymore," claimed Peter Dean, a former US toy company executive.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Arts and Crafts, a group which represents toymakers, also appealed to manufacturers yesterday not to take orders that are "too big, too urgent or too cheap".

Wang called for more international cooperation and less finger pointing.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Beijing will send senior-level delegations to the US later this month and next month to discuss food and product safety.

ANI