FINED: Fisher Price slapped for not reporting safety hazard

Fisher-Price Fined $975,000 for Failing to
Report a Serious Choking, Aspiration Hazard with a Popular Children?s
Toy

WASHINGTON , D.C. ? The U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Fisher-Price Inc., of East Aurora,
N.Y., has agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty. The penalty, which the
Commission has provisionally accepted,
settles allegations that the company failed to report to the government that a
nail fastener in the Little People¨ Animal Sounds Farm could separate from
the toy and pose a serious choking or aspiration hazard to young
children.

About 67,000 Little People¨ Animal Sounds Farms
were sold nationwide by Fisher-Price from June 2002 through July 2002. In
September 2002, the company received its first report of a nail fastener coming
loose from one of the toy barn?s stall doors. Over the next two months,
Fisher-Price received nine additional reports, including one case of a child
placing the nail fastener in her mouth.

By February 2003, Fisher-Price had received two
reports of parents concerned that this problem posed a choking hazard to
children and a report of a December 30, 2002 incident in which a 14-month old
child aspirated a nail fastener into his lung. The child was taken to the
hospital and underwent an emergency surgical procedure to have the metal nail
fastener removed.

It was not until March 2003 that the company reported
the safety hazard with the Little People¨ Animal Farm to the Commission. By
that time, Fisher-Price was aware of at least 33 reports in which the nail
fastener came loose from the stall doors. These included four reports of
children who put the metal nail fastener in their mouths and the one case of the
child who aspirated the nail fastener.

Federal law requires
firms to report to CPSC immediately (within 24 hours) after obtaining
information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a
defect which could create a substantial risk of injury to the public, presents
an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, or violates a federal safety
standard.

In April 2003, CPSC and Fisher-Price announced the
recall
of the Little People¨ Animal Sounds Farms and recommended that consumers
take the toy away from young children immediately and contact the company to
receive a free repair kit. Consumers can still call Fisher-Price anytime at
(866) 259-7873 or order the repair kit online at www.service.mattel.com

In agreeing to settle the matter, Fisher-Price Inc.
denies CPSC?s allegations that the company knowingly violated the
law.

Prior to the loss of quorum, the Commission delegated
authority to the Office of Compliance and Field Operations to settle this matter
with Fisher-Price before March 1, 2007.