Target Fined for Lead Toys

Target has agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty for importing and selling a variety of toys with high levels of lead paint on the surface.

Government safety officials say the lead content of some of the toys’ surface coatings were higher than is legally allowed by the 1978 lead paint ban. The Consumer Product Safety Commission alleged that Target knowingly imported and sold the illegal toys between May 2006 and August 2007. But as part of the settlement, Target denies that it knowingly broke the law.

The agency says the Target settlement makes fiscal year 2009 a record for both number of civil penalties, 39, and dollar value of fines imposed, approximately $9.8 million