Hmm... Batman & Barbie - together again for the first time!
In infamy their togetherness shall be forever remembered too! For Batty and Barb prove to be a THREAT TO YOUR CHILD'S WELL-BEING!At least, say, Emmanuelle & James Bond, when they finally got to be seen together, were not considered hazardous to children's health (or even their innocence; for it was an over-the-hill Sylvia Kristel meeting a has-been one-shot wonder, George Lazenby, and their scenes together were not amorous in nature in the least - they simply carried on a casual conversation on a chartered flight, comfortably seated side by side, during several framing sequences that merely led to the lewd softcore stuff Emmanuelle used to do - now all done by a brand "new" ah, "actress" - yes! But I digress...)
Batman & Barbie, though, are really a deadly duo - kids are endangered, all over the globe...
A Chinese exec even went hara-kiri style, over this duo!
I guess ditching Robin did pay dividends, eh, Batty? ;)
Shooting in Asia could... no, SHOULD have gone worse for you too, pointy-ears! But that is another story...
Read all the sordid details about the Batty-Barb Crisis -
in the comments section! ;)
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 9:41 PM
3 Comments:
At 4:03 PM,
Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said…
Barbies, Batman et autres produits fabriqués en Chine
Mattel retire du marché mondial plus de 18 millions de jouets
Mise en ligne 14/08/2007 17h05
Le groupe américain Mattel a annoncé mardi le rappel dans le monde de quelque 18,6 millions de jouets fabriqués en Chine, contenant de petits aimants qui peuvent être avalés par les enfants ou de la peinture au plomb toxique.
Parmi les derniers produits rappelés figurent des boîtes de jouets dont des poupées Polly Pocket, Barbie ou Batman, et 436 000 petites voitures «Sergent», selon un communiqué du groupe sur son site Web et la Commission de sécurité des consommateurs (CSPC) à Washington.
Nancy Nord, présidente de la CSPC, a expliqué au cours d'une conférence de presse qu'il s'agissait d'une mesure de précaution, contrairement au rappel de produits Polly Pocket en novembre 2006. Des enfants ayant avalé des aimants avaient dû alors être opérés. «Les rappels sont intentionnellement importants pour prévenir» ce type d'accidents, selon Nancy Nord.
Un peu plus tôt ce mois-ci, Mattel avait déjà rappelé environ 1,5 million de jouets d'origine chinoise contenant de la peinture au plomb. «Il n'y a aucune excuse pour que l'on trouve du plomb dans des jouets importés (aux États-Unis)», a déploré Mme Nord, «c'est totalement inacceptable et cela doit cesser».
Mattel a fait paraître mardi une pleine page dans plusieurs journaux américains, soulignant que le groupe répondrait aux inquiétudes des parents et continuerait à créer des jouets «sûrs, amusants» pour leurs enfants.
«Rien n'est plus important que la sécurité de nos enfants. Nous avons déjà pris des mesures pour renforcer la sécurité de nos jouets», a affirmé le directeur général de Mattel Bob Eckert. Mattel a interrompu la vente des produits concernés, demandé aux détaillants de les retirer des rayons et propose un échange aux consommateurs.
Le retrait concerne 18,2 millions de jouets magnétiques, dont 9,5 millions aux États-Unis. Il s'agit selon Mattel de produits fabriqués entre début 2003 et le 31 janvier 2007, comprenant des mini-poupées, figurines, jeux et accessoires comportant des petits aimants pouvant se décoller. Ils peuvent alors être inhalés ou avalés.
D'autre part, sont retirées du marché 436 000 petites voitures «Sergent» de la gamme «Cars», dont 253 000 aux États-Unis. La peinture utilisée contient en effet un niveau de plomb supérieur aux normes autorisées. Selon Mattel, le fabricant chinois du jouet a sous-traité la peinture à un autre fournisseur qui a «violé les normes Mattel et utilisé une peinture non autorisée».
Le 2 août, Mattel, maison-mère du fabricant de jouets Fisher-Price, avait déjà annoncé le rappel de 83 catégories de jouets fabriqués en Chine et commercialisés aux États-Unis, dont de très populaires personnages du «1 rue Sésame», en raison de la présence excessive de plomb dans leur peinture. Ce rappel concernait des jouets en plastique mou destinés aux tout-petits, fabriqués en Chine et vendus aux États-Unis entre mai et août.
Plus de 80% des jouets vendus dans le monde sont fabriqués en Chine.
Pour ce pays, qui veut s'imposer sur les marchés étrangers, c'est un nouveau coup dur porté à la réputation de ses produits, après le retrait récent du marché mondial de pneus défectueux, d'aliments contaminés pour animaux domestiques ou de dentifrice contenant de l'antigel.
Associated Press
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At 4:06 PM,
Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said…
Babel Fish aidant, I am sure you got the gist of the above A.P. newsfeed...
Man - SHEER NUMBERS TALK!
Eighteen MILLION toys taken off the shelves...
WORLDWIDE!
I always said there was TOO MUCH Bat-crap put out yearly, anyway - maybe now, after this MAJOR debacle, they'll quit churning it out...
FINALLY...
Too late for ONE FOOLISH EXEC though - read on...
...
At 4:07 PM,
Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ said…
Chinese Executive kills self amid recall
By AUDRA ANG,
Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 13, 3:54 PM ET
BEIJING - The head of a Chinese manufacturer whose lead-tainted Sesame Street toys were the center of a massive U.S. recall has killed himself, a state-run newspaper said Monday.
Cheung Shu-hung, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co., committed suicide at a warehouse over the weekend, apparently by hanging himself, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
"When I rushed there around 5 p.m., police had already sealed off the area," the newspaper quoted a manager surnamed Liu as saying. "I saw that our boss had two deep marks in his neck."
Though the report did not give a reason for Cheung's apparent suicide — and the company declined to discuss the matter — Lee Der was under pressure in a global controversy over the safety of Chinese made products. It is common for disgraced officials to commit suicide in China.
This month, Mattel Inc., one of the largest U.S. toy companies, was forced to recall 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by Lee Der because they were decorated with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The toys, sold in the U.S. under the Fisher-Price brand, included likenesses of Big Bird and Elmo, as well as the Dora and Diego characters.
Days later, Chinese officials temporarily banned Lee Der from exporting products. The Southern Metropolis Daily, citing unidentified Lee Der workers, said the recall cost the company $30 million.
The recall was among the largest in recent months involving Chinese products, which have come under scrutiny worldwide for containing potentially dangerous high levels of chemicals and toxins.
Chinese officials, eager to protect an export industry crucial to China's booming economy, have aggressively tried to shore up international consumer confidence by cracking down on makers of shoddy goods, crafting new regulations and stepping up inspections.
In one of the more bizarre cases, a court in Beijing on Sunday sentenced a reporter to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to faking a television report that showed migrant workers making meat buns stuffed with cardboard for sale.
The report, concocted by freelance reporter Zi Beijia, fanned fears in China and abroad about China's poor food safety record. The report appeared on national television and was widely seen on the Web site YouTube.
In the Lee Der suicide, an official who answered the telephone at the company's 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. Telephones at Foshan's police headquarters rang unanswered.
Cheung was a co-owner of Lee Der, according to a registry of Hong Kong companies. The other owner, Chiu Kwei-tsun, did not return telephone messages left for him.
In its report, the Southern Metropolis Daily said Cheung, a Hong Kong resident 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 report said.
After the recall, Lee Der maintained that its paint supplier, Cheung's best friend, supplied "fake paint" used in the toys, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.
"The boss and the company were harmed by the paint supplier, the closest friend of our boss," Liu, the manager, was quoted as saying.
Mattel Inc., based in El Segundo, Calif., issued a statement Monday expressing sorrow over Cheung's death.
"We were troubled to hear about this tragic news," the statement said. "This is a personal misfortune not a corporate event. Any loss of life is a tragedy and we feel for the family during this difficult time."
In announcing the temporary export ban against Lee Der, a government quality inspection agency also slapped a similar prohibition on Hansheng Wood Products Factory and said police were investigating both companies' use of "fake plastic pigment." Such pigments are a type of industrial latex used to make surfaces smoother and shinier.
Hansheng made wooden railroad toys that a New York company, RC2 Corp., sold under the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. RC2 had to recall 1.5 million of the toys earlier this year because of lead paint, which can cause vomiting, anemia and even neurological damage.
Chinese companies often have long supply chains, making it difficult to trace the exact origin of components, chemicals and food additives.
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Associated Press Writer Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong contributed to the story.
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