Responding to the furor over the recalls of tens of millions of toys, and perhaps running scared about their impact on Christmas sales, leading U.S. toymakers have taken a remarkable step, according to a story in today's New York Times: They've asked the government to impose mandatory safety-testing testing standards for all toys sold in the United States. (Read the story here.)
The proposal was approved quietly last week at an association board meeting, the report says. The plan calls for requiring companies "to hire independent laboratories to check a certain portion of their toys, whether made in the United States or overseas," the report says.
Why a mandatory standard, if leading companies already claim to do such testing — and are promising to do more, as Mattel promised recently in the midst of a string of corporate embarrassments?
The answer illustrates an often-overlooked advantage of mandatory safety and health standards for products, which even the best manufacturers, swayed by anti-regulatory ideology, seem to fight: Because mandatory standards help maintain a level playing field.
If all toymakers have to do such testing, the price of toys at Walmart and Toys R Us may rise a few cents. But at least toymakers who monitor the manufacturing process more closely — which they all should have been doing already — won't suffer a competitive disadvantage for being more vigilant.
Meanwhile, the pain for Mattel and other China-dependent toymakers is offering a boon to some other brands. Read here, on The Inquirer's Web site, about how such brands such as Playskool, Brio and GeoMag are benefiting from competitors' recalls.
