Toy recall has parents concerned, frustrated.

Byline: Rebecca Taylor The Register-Guard

The recall of nearly 1 million Fisher-Price toys manufactured with lead paint prompted parents around the country to search their children's toy boxes for the Chinese-made products.

Mattel, which owns Fisher-Price, on Thursday listed 83 toys from its popular Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer and Diego product lines because paint used in their production contains excessive amounts of lead. The announcement follows a similar recall in June of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys made in China for RC2 Corp.

Jeannette Applauso of Eugene tossed out part of a Thomas & Friends set owned by her 2-year-old son after the earlier recall. She learned of the latest warning while listening to the radio on Thursday.

"It made me very concerned," she said of Mattel's announcement. "We'll have to pay more attention to where things are manufactured."

The toys are just the latest Chinese-made products to prompt public health concerns. Already this year, officials have warned the American public about toothpaste, pet food and tires produced in China.

The recalled toys were sold between May and this month.

Officials at Mattel said the manufacturer in China used a paint that had not been approved by the company.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said no injuries had been reported from the recalled products.

Robert Eckert, chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel, apologized to customers on Thursday.

"We realize that parents trust us with what is most precious to them - their children," he said in a statement. "Our goal is to correct this problem, improve our systems and maintain the trust of the families that have allowed us to be part of their lives."

Those families include Eugene residents Jeff and Shannon Vaughan and their three young children.

The Vaughans planned to review the list of recalled toys Thursday evening. Their two daughters are fans of Dora and have Fisher-Price toys featuring the popular character. But persuading a child to give up a favorite toy could prove difficult, they said.

"They're not going to understand, and that's what's frustrating," Shannon Vaughan said.

Mattel said it is working with retailers to pull the toys from the shelves. The company said it initiated a "fast-track recall" as soon as it learned of the problem, and prevented nearly two-thirds of the toys from ever reaching stores.

Eugene Toy & Hobby doesn't carry the affected toys. But it did stock the Thomas & Friends items recalled in June, owner Alan Agerter said.

Agerter chooses which toys to stock in the East 11th Avenue shop, and the two recalls so close together troubled him, he said.

"It makes me feel kind of like a peon here," he said. "We don't have much control over where we get our toys now."

Industry experts expected more recalls. They said parents will be more skeptical when buying holiday toys and may avoid Chinese products altogether.

"Everyone is concerned that this could really undermine the traditional toy business if consumers think that the toys are unsafe," New York-based toy consultant Chris Byrne said.

Mattel said the contract manufacturer has had a good safety record, but it called the use of lead paint "a serious mistake." Officials said an investigation is under way to determine whether safety procedures were ignored.

"We require our manufacturing partners to use paint from approved and certified suppliers and have procedures in place to test and verify, but in this particular case our procedures were not followed," Jim Walter, Mattel's senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance, said in a statement.

Walter will travel to China to meet with vendors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FISHER-PRICE RECALL

A list of the 83 toys covered by the recall is available from Mattel at www.service.mattel.com and from the Consumer Product Safety Commission at www.cpsc.gov