NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Toy Industry Association said Wednesday it supports a federal requirement to make safety testing and inspection mandatory and is working with the American National Standards Institute to develop industry-wide safety procedures.
The TIA said it hopes to develop and standardize procedures that will be used by the industry to verify that products comply with U.S. safety codes.
The trade association, which represents more than 500 toy producers and importers, also said it is working with the American National Standards Institute to develop criteria to ensure that test laboratories are qualified to conduct the prescribed testing.
These efforts are designed to reinforce toy testing and inspection programs in light of recent recalls from some toy manufacturers of contaminated, potentially hazardous toys imported from China.
''Recent recalls from a few manufacturers are an indication that we need to strengthen the testing and inspection procedures used to verify that all toy products, from all sources, comply with U.S. safety standards,'' said Daniel Grossman, TIA chairman, in a release.
Mattel announced late Tuesday it was recalling 800,000 toys, including 675,000 accessories for one of the company's biggest sellers, the Barbie doll. Also part of the recall, the third in just over a month, were 90,000 units of Mattel's GeoTrax locomotive line and about 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys, both from the company's Fisher Price brand.
Mattel's last recall, announced on Aug. 14, covered about 19 million toys worldwide. They included Chinese-made toys that either had excessive amounts of lead paint or small magnets that could be swallowed by children.
