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Mattel names Chinese maker of recalled toys
This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Mattel Inc., the world's largest toy maker, identified the Chinese vendor that made the 1.5 million toys it was forced to recall last week because of possible lead-paint contamination.

Lee Der Industrial Co. manufactured the Fisher-Price toys based on characters such as Sesame Street's Elmo and Dora the Explorer, Mattel said Tuesday in a statement.

Mattel doesn't plan to continue using Lee Der, located in China's Guangdong province, spokeswoman Jules Andres said.

There have been no reports of injuries in connection with the recalled toys, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said Wednesday. Mattel said Aug. 2 it will review production by contractors in China, the origin of 65 percent of its toys, following the recall.

''We are continuing to investigate and evaluate findings,'' Mattel said in Tuesday's statement.

''Mattel has openly shared the name of this vendor with competitors throughout the investigation process.''

Mattel, which sold 967,000 of the recalled toys in the U.S., said last week that related costs will reduce its second-quarter pretax operating income by $30 million, or 47 percent.

Lee Der used a paint supplier uncertified by Mattel, Andres said. Lead may be toxic if ingested by children and can cause serious health effects, the product safety commission said. RC2 Corp. in June recalled 1.5 million lead-tainted Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway products.

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