First dog food, and now toy dogs

Maybe when Michael Vick gets out of jail, he can go play for some Chinese manufacturers, because there seems to be a clear pattern in their attitude towards dogs... oh, and children. At least we're also outsourcing our recalls.

For the third time this summer, Mattel issued a major recall, telling parents yesterday to watch out for Chinese-made toys with excessive amounts of lead, including locomotive toys and accessories for its iconic Barbie brand.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the company is recalling 773,900 toys. Mattel said it discovered the use of lead-based paint as part an ongoing investigation of the toys it gets from China and once again found that contractors had used uncertified paint. "We apologize again to everyone affected and promise that we will continue to focus on ensuring the safety and quality of our toys," Robert A. Eckert, Mattel's chief executive, said in a statement. The contractors that used the uncertified paint no longer work for Mattel, the statement said.

The company is recalling 675,000 Barbie accessories, including Barbie Dream Puppy House, in which lead paint was found on the dog, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recall also includes 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys and about 90,000 Geo Trax locomotive toys. The products were sold from September 2006 to last month.

Happy Labor Day! Celebrate by scrapping together to buy at Wal-Mart the poisonous toys you used to manufacture until your job got sent overseas!