Congress faults Mattel on failure to recall toy cuff

Nearly five dozen congressmen this week fired off a letter to the chairman of Mattel, which owns Fisher-Price, asking the company to immediately withdraw from sale toy medical kits including blood pressure cuffs that have tested high for lead. So far, Mattel has only pulled its toy blood pressure cuffs—a red one and a green one—from sale in Illinois because that state's law limits lead in all children's products, whatever the material, to 600 parts per million.

As you may have read here earlier, our December issue featured an investigation,"New worries over lead," in which we reported finding high lead levels when we tested samples of a red Fisher-Price toy blood pressure cuff. As a result, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan conducted her own investigation and the product (contained in the Fisher-Price Medical Kit) was pulled from store shelves in the state. Less than two weeks later, the attorney general announced a similar problem—and recall—with a green blood-pressure cuff that was part of another Fisher-Price product, the Sesame Street Giggle toy medical kit.

Mattel has said that the levels of lead, while higher than anticipated, are "fully compliant" with all federal regulations and thus do not merit a national recall.

But the congressmen, led by Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), said the company needs to be more proactive and pull the product nationwide. "If this product is too dangerous for the children of Illinois, it is too dangerous for children in the rest of this country," the letter said.

Mattel has said that over 70 percent of the two medical kits have been returned to the company, a return rate significantly higher than ordinary recalls. However, that figure includes returns from large retailers, and consumers who have the products in their home typically have a lower response rate than retailers. Mattel is offering a replacement part for families who already own the cuffs; consumers can call Fisher-Price at (800)-298-0638.

We look forward to hearing Mattel's response to Congress.