Target hit with $600,000 penalty for violating 30-year-old ban on lead toys

Updated




Retail giant Target was hit with a $600,000 penalty by by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for importing and selling hundreds of thousands of toys with excessive levels of lead paint --violating a 30-year ban.

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. agreed to the penalty to settle allegations the company imported a variety of toys with high levels of lead. The CPSC's staff accused Target of "knowingly" importing and selling the toys and failing "to take adequate action to ensure that no toys or children's products would bear lead-containing paint." Target denied those allegations.

Target officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. UPDATE (12:30 p.m., 10/1): See Target's statement below.

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