China to stop using lead paint on toys
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 | 5:03 PM ET
CBC News
China has agreed to take steps to stop the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine "proposes to immediately undertake the creation and implementation of a comprehensive plan to eliminate the use of lead paint on Chinese manufactured toys exported to the United States," it said in a joint statement with the U.S. agency.
Birthday Dora, bottom, and Prince Diego, top, are among the 83 types of toys Fisher-Price recalled Aug. 1 because paint on the items contained excessive amounts of lead.
(Kevin Wolf/Associated Press)
"We will be looking for meaningful co-operation on the ground — that means not just with the Chinese government, but also with industry at both ends of the supply chain,” the safety commission's acting chair, Nancy Nord, said in a release.
The agencies will review progress in a year. The U.S. banned lead paint on toys in 1978 because it can cause brain damage if ingested.
The deal was reached after a "consumer product safety summit" in Washington. The meeting followed massive U.S. recalls of imported Chinese-made toys containing lead paint, including almost a million Fisher-Price toys in August.
The meeting also produced an agreement for the two agencies to make "best efforts" to improve the safety of toys, fireworks, cigarette lighters and electrical products.
The Chinese agency will increase inspections of consumer products destined for the U.S. and will help the U.S. agency trace any hazardous products to the manufacturer, distributor and exporter in China.
