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Lawmakers Consider Law to Limit Lead

By Kristie Turck •  Published 01/30/08 •  2 min read

Last updated on August 19th, 2022 at 11:05 pm

According to an article published by the New York Times today, Lawmakers are “tsk tsk”-ing Mattel for not “doing the right thing”. In November it was reported by Consumer Reports that an arm band in a toy medical kit contains “higher than anticipated” amounts of lead. Mattel decided against a nationwide recall of the toy.

The company said that its tests of the cuffs found “higher than anticipated” levels of lead, but added that the toy met American and European standards. The lead hazard was present only in the red and green version of the blood-pressure cuffs.  A Mattel spokeswoman said she did not know exactly how many toys were affected, but it was in the “order of magnitude of thousands.”

On Tuesday, dozens of Congress members signed and sent a letter to the chief executive of Mattel indicating their disappointment that Mattel isn’t living up to their promise:

The letter, signed by 56 members of Congress, quoted Mattel’s chief executive, Robert A. Eckert, as saying in September that the company “will do the right thing.”“We challenge you to live up to your words,” it said, “and set a standard for the entire industry by completely eliminating the use of lead in all the children’s products manufactured by Mattel.”

I find it shocking that lead is used AT ALL in children’s toys. It’s kind of sickening to hear what a company will do to make a buck at the expense of children’s safety.

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