• MSNBC/AP, Thursday, September 13, 2007 11:32 AM

Seeking to tamp down public outrage, Mattel CEO Robert Eckert told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee yesterday that the company would now test the safety of Chinese-made products with its own laboratories or with laboratories certified by the company. Other testimony by both federal regulators and toy manufacturers detailed loose Chinese standards and spotty U.S. enforcement that have contributed to a spate of recalls of Chinese-made toys, food and other products as health threats.

Mattel's Eckert disputed reports that public warnings about the dangerous products were delayed because of disagreements with regulators, or that Mattel might be motivated by saving money at the expense of safety when it chose to do business in China.

Separately, China's product safety chief Li Changjiang offered assurances that toys made in China would be "safer, better and more appealing." Li's remarks at a food safety conference in Beijing seemed intended to reassure consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere. On Tuesday, China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.

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