So far I can't find the toy specification which said "You shall use red lead paint". But I found a couple of references: <Yesterday’s lead paint recall was caused by a subcontractor, Hong Li Da, hired by Mattel’s contractor in China, Early Light Industrial. Mattel executives said Early Light, which has worked with Mattel for 20 years, was not at fault in the paint substitution. A number of Mattel’s 30 to 50 contractors in China subcontract parts of their production to other companies, Mr. Walter said. >
Here's another reference which says it all: <Lee Der Industrial, a contract manufacturer based in southern China, was responsible for producing the toys that contained excessive levels of lead paint in the first recall. Mattel stopped accepting goods from the contractor, and last week the Chinese government revoked Lee Der’s export license. The owner of Lee Der, Zhang Shuhong, committed suicide by hanging himself in a factory warehouse last Saturday, Chinese officials have confirmed.
Mr. Eckert said in an interview that Mattel had been able to recover the costs of its recall of the products made by Lee Der Industrial. “My understanding is that Lee Der is out of business,” he added. >
nytimes.com
It is obvious that Mattel would not have been compensated if the problem was the specification. It is also unlikely thatthe owner would kill himself for complying with the specification [if it was a legal specification].
Guilty as charged.
TJ, your ideas are obviously Made in China and should be closely examined for quality control.
The specification probably didn't say "Shall not contain radioactive uranium, or polonium, or strontium, or any other radionuclide other than C14 which shall not be present other than in proportions deriving from the trees used." You presumably therefore think it would be okay to dispose of radioactive waste in paint for children's toys.
If it was my business, I would want to control a LOT more than Mattel and Fonterra. Even for fuels, not intended for consumption, I was loading them with specifications to avoid death and injury: such as a benzene limit and pushing for lead elimination because lead in petrol was a hideous blunder of no net economic benefit, even apart from pollution of people and the environment. But in terms of guilt, it seems that Mattel was an innocent party. Stupid and gullible, like Fonterra, but still innocent [in regard to the lead paint].
Mqurice |
