Earlier this month, Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) was forced to recall 967,000 toys produced in China due to high levels of lead in the paint used on the toys. This was just another in a string of recent product recalls involving Chinese products, but the end result is a sad story, as Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., which manufactured the recalled toys, took his own life at the company's warehouse over the weekend.

According to reports, Shuhong hung himself this past Saturday. Earlier in the day he had greeted workers and briefly talked with some of them before taking his own life later in the day.

One of the company's managers, Liu, said that Zhang Shuhong was fooled into using the harmful paint and had bought the bad paint from one of his best friends. While all reports that I have seen have all stated that Mr. Shuhong did not willingly use harmful products in the company's toys, the damage was done, and the company has been placed under a temporary export ban of its goods.


In a country like China, executives place the highest importance of honor on themselves. While it is commonplace for disgraced officials to take their own lives, it is still a sad outcome to this story.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

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