The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Dan Dee International Inc., of Jersey City, N.J., was sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $40,000, after pleading guilty to four counts of selling banned children's toys. After recalling thousands of Teddy Precious Collectible Bears, Dan Dee resold approximately 8,000 of them in 1996 to another company that later sold them to consumers. Sales of banned products violate the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.
The teddy bears, which have not been sold since 1996, contained small removable parts and presented the risk that young children could choke to death on the parts. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio sentenced Dan Dee, immediately after accepting its guilty plea.
CPSC Chairman Ann Brown said, "Once again, CPSC is putting companies on notice that it violates the criminal law to sell dangerous children's products. We will aggressively pursue actions like this one to protect the safety of American children."
Acting Assistant Attorney General David W. Ogden commented, "Our efforts in prosecuting this case will send a message to companies that sell toys - we are very serious about the safety of children." The Civil Division's Office of Consumer Litigation, in the Department of Justice, handled the prosecution of this case, which is the first to arise out of CPSC's investigation of these matters.
About the U.S. CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. Since the CPSC was established more than 50 years ago, it has worked to ensure the safety of consumer products, which has contributed to a decline in injuries associated with these products.
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