The headaches for Mattel, Inc. (NYSE: MAT) just keep on adding up, as the company's toys from this summer's recall have now been found to contain 180 times the amount of lead allowed by law. In addition, some jewelry sold by Oriental Trading Co. was found to have an ingredient mix that was 100% lead. That's positively alarming. 180 times the legal limit? Did Mattel's Chinese toy contractors dip all the toys in pure lead or something?

For China, this is not good news, although the brunt of the negativity will be taken in by Mattel. After so many product and food recalls from China in the last year, it's hard to imagine that exports from that country won't be under the heaviest scrutiny by a congressional subcommittee. If you're a parent and your confidence in the quality of those Barbie toys (and others) has not been shattered by all this, I'd love to hear your comments below.


Mattel, knowing that it cannot evade questions related to the safety of its toys, admitted that 'some' of the paint on 'some' of its toys were made of up to 11% lead, a figure of 110,000 parts per million. Law allows only 600 parts per million as safe. Now, try this on for size: the lead amount on some recent toys (made in 2007, no less) actually contained twice the amount of lead that was allowed in standard house paint before lead was declared illegal for use over three decades ago. Maybe all that outlawed paint from the 1970s is now being used on kids' toys, eh?

Even worse: a New York pediatrician stated that a child who played with a toy with up to 11% lead paint for one to six months could get "substantial, severe lead poisoning." Now, we all know kids that play with toys just a few hours and then toss them in the trash, right? Wrong -- kids play with toys for up to a year at least. Do you feel less comfortable about those toys in the toybox right this second? You should.

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