I came across this this week.
I came across this this week.
Chinese toy factory boss commits suicide over lead paint scandal
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Monday August 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The Chinese toy factory owner at the centre of the storm over lead-tainted Sesame Street figures has committed suicide, the state-run media reported today.
Zhang Shuhong, the boss of a major supplier to Mattel, hung himself at the weekend after his export licence was suspended and 1.5m products withdrawn because of safety fears about toys sold in the US, Britain and other parts of Europe.
He is the second high-profile fatality of a growing "Made in China" consumer safety scandal, following the execution last month of the former head of the food and drug watchdog.
According to the Xinhua news agency, Zhang's body was found in the warehouse of his Lida Industries company on Saturday.
The business, which is based in the manufacturing hub of southern Guangdong province, was devastated last week when Mattel recalled hundreds of thousands of Big Birds, Elmos, Dora the Explorers and other figures made for the Fisher Price label.
Some of the products were found to be coated with excessive levels of lead paint. Lead can cause diarrhoea, vomiting and headaches in children. In very large quantities, it can kill.
In the US, almost a million items have been sent back by worried parents or taken off the shelves of Wal Mart and Toys 'R' Us. In the UK and Ireland, Mattel has issued a warning and offered refunds for the 94,000 items that have been shipped into the market since May.
The company has sent investigators to China to trace the extent and cause of the problem. After they identified Lida - also spelled Lee Der - as the main supplier of the tainted products, the government suspended the company's export licence.
Managers at the factory told the local media that the company would lose $30m as a result of the scandal. Zhang - a 50-year-old entrepreneur from Hong Kong - is said to have spent his last morning talking to some of the 5,000 employees, whose jobs are now in jeopardy.
The Southern Metropolitan Daily said Zhang felt betrayed by his closest friend, who owned the factory that supplied paint for the toys. Although advertised as lead-free, the pigment proved fake.
The finger of blame has also been pointed at Mattel for apparently failing to enforce safety standards in its supply chain, at Chinese regulatory authorities for lax oversight and at overseas product safety inspection systems for not identifying the problem more quickly.
More than 70% of the world's toys are made in China, most of them in Guangdong province. This is not the first scandal to hit the industry. In June, 1.5m Thomas the Tank Engine products were recalled in the US because of lead fears. The tainted products were manufactured by the Hansheng Woodware company,
In recent months, overseas commerce representatives, health officials and politicians have raised concerns about Made in China products. Alarms over poisoned pet food and dangerous toothpaste come amid growing trade friction over Beijing's huge trade surplus.
Chinese trade officials insist 99% of the nation's exports meet quality and safety standards, but they say they are treating the issue seriously. Despite the systemic nature of the problem, however, the government has made an example of the known culprits. In an unusually harsh sentence, the head of the food and drug safety administration, Zheng Xiaoyu was executed last month for accepting bribes in return for approving medicines that later proved to have deadly side effects.
Journalists have also felt the repercussions. A reporter, who faked a TV story about cardboard-filled meat-buns, was yesterday imprisoned for a year after being found guilty of damaging the reputation of a product.
I gave my age 4 year old Grandaughter a doll last week..for her birthday..Daughter said, she had stripped all the clothes off her within an hour.
