Over half of Chinese toys harmful to children: Russian watchdog

Moscow: More than half of Chinese-made toys sold in Russia have been found to be harmful to children''s health says Russia''s consumer watchdog, Russian Federal Service for Consumer Rights Supervison (Rospotrebnadzor) that is investigating Mattel-branded Chinese-made toys.

Speaking to reporters, Gennady Onishchenko of Rospotrebnadzor said, ''''China-made toys are not safe for children as they failed to meet the applicable sanitary and epidemiological requirements,'''' saying that they contained lead, resins, formaldehydes, substandard dyes and unsafe tiny parts.

He said out of the 185,000 samples examined last year, 93,000 proved unsuitable for children. Onishchenko said he had ordered a probe into the sale of children''s toys under the Mattel brand and would order their recall from the market if the need arose.

He also disclosed that Rospotrebnadzor would inspect companies that sold Mattel toys with particular emphasis on toy cars, dolls, figures, and toy sets.

Giving such items to children particularly newly-born babies is very risky. Young kids tend to put in mouth every single item they come across. As a result they may poison themselves with heavy metal particles or swallow small parts of toys.

Due to the higher lead content, Mattel is removing from market up to 436,000 toys made in China. It is also withdrawing magnetic toys produced from January 2002 to January 2007.