Beijing says new safety standards to blame for Mattel recalls

The Chinese government said yesterday that new safety standards, not local manufacturers, are to blame for the massive Mattel recall of potentially hazardous lead-coated China-made toys last week, the Financial Times reported. Mattel said that the 18.2 million recall of its 63 product types was a safety measure following its decision to tighten its own standards in the products it sold from January. However, a commerce ministry official did say that "even if only 1% of products have quality problems, we will seek to establish the facts and … punish those companies involved." The safety concerns over Chinese-made toys have been the most high-profile in a series of product safety problems this year, raising questions about whether the country's low-cost exports industry.