"[P]eople acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." - FDR

News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Is Barbie above the Law?

Mattel is recalling another batch of toys because of lead paint contamination. This time, it's 675,000 Barbie toys.

As it has with past recalls, Mattel is working in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for regulating toys and other products. Reg•Watch has blogged about the problems with this industry-lead voluntary recall system and the ineffectiveness of CPSC.

The problems are underscored by a recent Wall Street Journal article in which Mattel's chairman revealed the toy maker often conducts investigations of hazardous products on its own (and outside of the public view) before notifying CPSC.

With rare exception, manufacturers are to notify CPSC within 24 hours if they believe a product to even be potentially hazardous. According to the Journal, Mattel has a different take:

Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Eckert said in an interview that the company discloses problems on its own timetable because it believes both the law and the commission's enforcement practices are unreasonable. Mattel said it should be able to evaluate hazards internally before alerting any outsiders, regardless of what the law says.

Reg•Watch once tried that "the-law-is-unreasonable-argument" to get out of a parking ticket. It didn't work.