http://www.frequencyfoundation.com/2009/09/mattel-gets-free-pass-on-independe...


Dear Friend,

Get ready for a repeat of one of the ugliest chapters in modern consumer history.

Mattel, the chief offender in the Chinese lead-toy scandal, is actually being allowed to skip the new safety measures that were put into place because of that scandal.

You heard that right. New measures designed to stop Mattel from doing what they did to our children won't apply to Mattel or its scandal-plagued subsidiary, Fisher-Price.

Remember, Mattel and Fisher-Price were forced to recall millions of shoddy toys, some of which had up to 180 times the legal limit of lead. The company had to pay $2.3 million in fines, but somehow got off without having to admit to doing anything wrong.

It must be nice to have friends in high places.

Now, these corporate criminals are up to their old toxic tricks again.

Congress acted with record-breaking speed after the lead-toy scandal, passing new laws that require all toy companies to submit their products to independent labs for testing.

The key word here is "independent."

Because Congress never met a law it couldn't fill with loopholes, they put the empty- headed fools at the Consumer Product Safety Commission in charge of enforcing it.

How empty are those hollow heads? When Mattel asked to be put in charge of its own product testing, skipping those new requirements for independent labs, those m*o*o*ns at the CPSC said, "Sure, go ahead. We trust you."

That's like the Fed putting Bonnie and Clyde in charge of bank security.

Wiping the lipstick off the pig,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.