New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Toymaker to Pay $1.25 Million For Lead Paint Tank Engine Toys

Posted on Jan 12, 2010

Two years after a frightening recall of children’s toys that contained dangerous amounts of lead, the company responsible for importing the defective products has been fined $1.25 million. RC2 Corporation will pay the civil penalty after settling an agreement with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). RC2 imported an estimated 1.5 million toys from abroad that were not safe and them sold them to consumers in 2005 and then imported a further 200,000 toys in 2007.

In 2007, a countrywide recall took place involving Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas & Friends toys. The collection of wooden and metal trains and train accessories had paints and other surface coverings high in lead, which could potentially lead to lead poisoning. The US CPSC argued that RC2 knowingly purchased and sold dangerous products in the Untied States, though the toy companies denies this claim.

The company stated that currently its children’s products and toys meet national and international toy safety standards and that safety is their top priority in the wake of the lead pain toy recall.

Federal laws at the time of the Thomas and friends recall limited lead content in toys to 600 parts per million of lead by weight. New safety standards set by the CPSC in 2008 limit the lead content in toys to 90 parts per million.

The largest civil penalty for lead in toys was paid by Mattel Inc.’s Fisher-Price – a $2.3 million fine for dangerous lead paints and coatings on children’s products.

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