Markets

U.S. open in 17 hrs, 16 mins

DJIA

10,226.94

203.52

2.03%

NASDAQ

2,154.06

41.62

1.97%

S&P 500

1,093.07

23.77

2.22%

10yr Note

101.25

0.2188

0.22%

FTSE 100

5,235.18

92.46

1.80%

Nikkei 225

9,808.99

19.64

0.20%

Hang Seng

22,207.55

377.83

1.73%

Euro (in USD)

1.499

0.0121

0.81%

Yen (per USD)

90.01

0.16

0.18%

Gold

1,103.00

7.90

0.72%

Oil

79.21

1.78

2.30%

BUSINESS NEWS

INVESTING

Financial Glossary

PERSONAL FINANCE AT WALLETPOP

SMALL BUSINESS

BUSINESS NEWS

INVESTING

Financial Glossary

PERSONAL FINANCE AT WALLETPOP

SMALL BUSINESS

China Toy Boss Kills Self After Recall

By AUDRA ANG,

Posted: 2007-08-13 17:56:10

BEIJING (Aug. 13) - The head of a Chinese toy manufacturing company at the center of a huge U.S. recall has committed suicide, a state-run newspaper said Monday.

Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., killed himself at a warehouse over the weekend, days after China announced it had temporarily banned exports by the company, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

Lee Der made 967,000 toys recalled earlier this month by Mattel Inc. because they were made with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The plastic preschool toys, sold under the Fisher-Price brand in the U.S., included the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters.

It was among the largest recalls in recent months involving Chinese products, which have come under fire for globally for containing potentially dangerous high levels of chemicals and toxins.

The Southern Metropolis Daily said that a supplier, Zhang's best friend, sold Lee Der fake paint which was used in the toys.

"The boss and the company were harmed by the paint supplier, the closest friend of our boss," a manager surnamed Liu was quoted as saying.

Liu said Zhang hung himself on Saturday, according to the report. It is common for disgraced officials to commit suicide in China.

"When I got there around 5 p.m., police had already sealed off the area," Liu said.

A company official who answered the telephone at the Lee Der factory in the southern city of Foshan on Monday said he had not heard of the news. A man at Lee Der's main office in Hong Kong said the company was not accepting interviews and hung up.

According to a search on a registry of Hong Kong companies, Zhang - whose name is spelled Cheung Shu-hung in official documents - is a co-owner of Lee Der. The other owner, Chiu Kwei-tsun, did not return telephone messages left for him.

The recall by El Segundo, California-based Mattel came just two months after RC2 Corp., a New York company, recalled 1.5 million Chinese-made wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line because of lead paint.

The maker, Hansheng Wood Products Factory, was also included in the export ban announced Thursday by the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, one of China's quality watchdogs.

The administration also ordered both companies to evaluate and change their business practices.

Lead poisoning can cause vomiting, anemia and learning difficulties. In extreme cases, it can cause severe neurological damage and death.

The quality watchdog also said police were investigating two companies' use of "fake plastic pigment" but did not give any details. Such pigments are a type of industrial latex usually used to increase surface gloss and smoothness.

Telephones rang unanswered at the public security bureau in Foshan and at Dongxing New Energy Company, which is the paint supplier.

In its report, the Southern Metropolis Daily said Zhang, who was in his 50s, treated his 5,000-odd employees well and always paid them on time.

The morning of his suicide, he greeted workers and chatted with some of them, the newspaper said.

Chinese companies often have long supply chains, making it difficult to trace the exact origin of components, chemicals and food additives.

On Sunday, a Chinese court sentenced a reporter to a year in jail for faking a television story about cardboard-filled meat buns in a case that has drawn even more attention to China's poor food safety record.

Zi Beijia, 28, pleaded guilty to charges of infringing on the reputation of a commodity during his trial at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of $132, it said.

Zi's story, reportedly shot with a hidden camera, appeared to show a makeshift kitchen where people made steamed buns stuffed with shredded cardboard softened with caustic soda plus a little bit of fatty pork.

Zi paid four migrant workers from China's northern Shaanxi province to prepare the buns according to his instructions, Xinhua said. The buns were then fed to dogs, it said.

The story was first broadcast on Beijing Television's Life Channel, where Zi was a freelance reporter, on July 8 and then again on China Central Television. It was also widely seen on YouTube.com.

Associated Press Writer Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong contributed to this story.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2007-08-13 06:50:54

Must Read?

0 %

0 VOTES

Recent Comments

Post Your Own

1 - 10 of 2433

2433 comments

PrkrSm 10:07:01 PM Sep 06 2007

Report This!

there are not too many matel toys made in china that are $5. Companies move to save on the production cost but do not pass it on to us consumers

sandrandgreg 03:28:00 PM Aug 19 2007

Report This!

Too bad the CEO's in the US don't share the same sence of responsibility as do China's. Our CEO's reward themselves for filing bankruptcy and screwing the employees.

Pinglulu 12:27:46 PM Aug 19 2007

Report This!

CHINESE CHERRY CARS WILL SOON BE SOLD IN THE USA. THEY WILL SELL FOR LESS THAN $ 10,000 THEY ARE STYLISH BUT I WONDER ABOUT THE WARRANTY.

ronjret 11:13:32 PM Aug 18 2007

Report This!

Tiggergirlz73 says that the reason for outside manf. is because of high wages here but does dhe realize that if our stupid Gov. was not so concerned with being a World Leader and not trying to be the Police Force,Feed Bag ,and everything to everyone in the world we would not have the high taxes that make it so costly to do business here. We have given away more money to more countries than the rest of the developed nations combined. What did we get for it? We are the most despised country in the world.

janie3867 07:52:02 AM Aug 17 2007

Report This!

"btomncindys>>>>actually, we manufacture plenty of sh*t in the USA. Take if from me, my husband is a plumber."

NICE.....and you've got a picture of a bible next to your quote. *Shaking head*

Tiggergirlz73 05:15:56 PM Aug 16 2007

Report This!

Just want to point out that it is not the Businesses that set the need to manufacture in China, it is the consumers. A toy that sells for $5 that was manufactured in China would have to sell for $45 if manufactured in the US. Your average American consumer is not going to pay that! Americans want a higher percieved value than what they actually pay. Therefore if all Manufacturing were done in the US the sales would be extremely considerably lower and there would not be these millions of jobs available like some think because the volume of sales would be so low. It would actually take jobs away because the sales would not warrant so many retailers and mass merchants like Walmart or Target. I love America but the comments that I am reading here are very uneducated. Anyone who says we should do all our manufacturing in the US doesnt have a clue what that would do to our economy.

sonjadr 11:41:00 AM Aug 16 2007

Report This!

There is plenty made in the U.S., but it will cost more. Maybe that's a good thing because then people will have less cluttering up their homes and yards. We could afford to pay more for better things and have less. The prices on many things have gotten so rediculously low, that everyone can afford everything. Clothes, for instance, get marked 50% off as soon as they hit the racks in the better dept. stores, then before long they will be 75% off, then a special sale with an extra 30-50% off. Pretty soon the stores will be paying US to take the stuff!! And, these are name brands. I can buy nice clothes at the better dept. stores cheaper than Walmart!! You know that they are getting this stuff for practically nothing to be able to sell it that cheap. Kids have WAY too many toys because they are so cheap. A few well made American toys would be much better and much less work for parents trying to keep their homes picked up. I know I will only buy American made toys for my grands

abpositive7 09:04:53 AM Aug 16 2007

Report This!

btomncindys>>>>actually, we manufacture plenty of sh*t in the USA. Take if from me, my husband is a plumber.

kilburna 08:05:00 AM Aug 15 2007

Report This!

As much as I hate bush hillary is NOT NOT NOT the anser. remember hillary voted NO TO MAKING english OFFICAL LANGUAGE IN USA. also VOTED NO to fence out illegals. she wants to send them to school so they won't have to work on farms and in factories. BUSH IS NO REPUBLICAN JUST A PICE OF CRAP THEY ALLOWED ON THEIR TICKET THEY HATE HIM TOO IN PRIVATE.

kilburna 07:48:00 AM Aug 15 2007

Report This!

They are sending the food they grow over and selling it to greedy americans so they can afford food raised in the USA. BEEF AND PORK and chickens. The usa now says they can't send their chickens to USA but can chickens to china for processing and sent back to USA for us to eat. pay shipping to and from china just to save a couple of pennys for processing. Raise-kill-freeze chicken in USA ship to china thaw out chicken cut it up refreeze send back to USA for us to eat.US farm report is a dreat show of course it comes on 5.00 am sunday morning. They also say only 4% of illegals work on farms.Another thing china has been caught doing is putting lables saying from other countrys NOT CHINA on food of the 3% of food we check from china a very high % is bad. I think thats way we only check 3% of import food so if we don't check it we won't find so much bad food ! china doesn't like it when gov. says their food is bad.

1 - 10 of 2433

2433 comments