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Study: U.S. Companies to Blame for Dangerous Toys

Defective design, lax oversight cause most safety problems, study finds

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 11, 2007

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Although China and lead paint are the current foci of toy safety issues, a new study finds that design errors by U.S. toy companies are to blame for most toy safety problems. Other critics have also blamed weakened regulation, the result of cutbacks at federal safety agencies.

“If we’re going to point fingers, point them in the right direction,” said report co-author Paul Beamish, director of the Asian Management Institute at the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada's CanWest News Service reported.

“Certainly some of the problems are made in China, but our analysis on at least toy recalls suggests that the larger number of problems have originated on the other side,” Beamish said.

Giant toymaker Mattel recalled another huge batch of toys earlier this month because they contain excessive amounts of lead. It was the third big toy recall for Mattel this summer.

In August, the company recalled 1.5 million toys featuring Elmo and other popular characters because of fears they were contaminated with lead.

There have been 40 toy recalls so far this year, up from 33 last year. If the recalls continue at their current pace, there could be 56 by the end of the year. Most of the recalled toys were made in China and many of the recalls involve lead paint and tiny magnets.

Made in China

China is currently taking much of the blame for the problem, for the simple reason that most toys sold in the U.S. are assembled in China.

Beamish’s report says that only three per cent of toys recalled in 1988 came from China. By 2004, that number had exploded to 87 per cent. Nearly all toy recalls initiated this year — 95 per cent — involved Chinese-made toys.

But that doesn’t mean Chinese companies are completely to blame, he cautioned. His study found that nearly 77 per cent of the recalls were prompted by design flaws, such as small detachable parts, sharp edges, or long strings that could pose a risk of strangulation.

Only 10 percent of the recalls over the past 20 years have been related to manufacturing errors such as lead paint or defective batteries, he said.

Designed in the U.S.

Globalization is the root of the problem, said said Hari Bapuji, international business professor at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business and another author of the report.

“We are at a place now where the companies are not prepared to deal with globalization. They don’t have the systems of knowledge,” Bapuji told CanWest.

Mattel and other companies may not have invested in the necessary systems to monitor safety and quality, he said. This year's wave of recalls and ruinous publicity may awaken them to the need to pay greater attention to how well their contractors and suppliers perform, Bapuji said.

Some companies have already put new measures into place. Walt Disney Company says it will start conducting its own testing of toys featuring Disney characters. Toys 'R' Us says it has hired a corps of engineers who will test toys on its shelves.

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