Personal Injury Law

Toy Manufacturer Agrees To Penalty For Lead In Toys

By Greg Webb

OKK Trading, an American based toy importer, has agreed to pay a $665,000 civil penalty settlement with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after it was shown that the company imported and sold toys that violated many child safety standards, such as having high levels of lead. The CPSC announced that the settlement resolves the agency's allegations that OKK Trading violated a thirty-year-old ban on lead paint in toys by knowingly importing and selling toys with excessive levels of lead from November 2007 to August 2008. The settlement also resolves several other allegations that it knowingly sold and imported games, toys, rattles, art materials and pacifiers that violated federal safety standards. In agreeing with the settlement, OKK Trading denies that it knowingly violated the law. The company further claims it received no reports of injuries or incidents involving the products covered by the settlement.

Earlier this month, the CPSC also announced that toy maker Mattel Inc. and its subsidiary Fisher-Price have agreed to pay $2.3 million for importing and selling toys with excessive amounts of lead. A CPSC spokesperson said the agency expects to announce more civil penalties against companies that violated the lead ban in order to hold companies responsible for all of the recalls that attracted so much media attention in 2007 and 2008.

Full post as published by Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer on July 12, 2009 (boomark / email).