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Children's Product Industry Put in Regulatory Bind

The $33 billion-plus U.S. children's product industry faces increasing state efforts to regulate its products while Congress wrangles over federal rules that won't be in place in time for this year's holiday shopping season.

That could fuel consumer worries about another slew of safety recalls and leave many makers of children's products uncertain about how to comply with a proliferation of state standards and a federal framework that still is uncertain.

Mattel Inc., which had to recall millions of toys last year because of problems that included potentially deadly high-power magnets, said it supports tougher federal standards that give the industry clear and uniform rules.

"Some states have passed extremely restrictive laws that, depending on how they are implemented, may make it impossible to sell many safe toys in these states," said Mattel spokeswoman Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, who said the company supports uniform national standards of regulation. "Fifty different state standards will create a confusing patchwork of regulations, limit certain toys sold in some states, drive up costs for consumers and will not substantively increase toy safety," she said.

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