Top Mattel Exec Apologizes to Congress

Courtney Mills

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The chief executive officer of Mattel, Robert A. Eckert, testified to senators about the company's recent problems regards its toys. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Eckert discussed with senators how the recent recalls had left his company particularly exposed at an awkward time of the year.

Readers will remember that Mattel has suffered mightily in the wake of three recalls for lead contamination and small, dangerous magnet use in just over a month. The toy giant could still face more recalls as Mattel performs quality control testing on existing inventories. The Congressional subcommittee called upon all toy manufacturers in the U.S. to take action now to account for their stocks.

Senators specifically called for greater power to be accorded to the CPSC to regulate incoming toys from foreign ports, as well as stiffer penalties to those selling goods tainted with lead. Allegedly, the current CPSC testing lab is extremely small and antiquated, forcing the CPSC to rely largely on toy companies to perform spot testing of goods.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.