Chinese executive commits suicide

BEIJING - The head of a Chinese manufacturer whose lead-tainted Sesame Street toys were the center of a massive U.S. recall has killed himself, a state-run newspaper said yesterday.

Cheung Shu-hung, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co., committed suicide at a warehouse over the weekend, apparently by hanging himself, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Though the report did not give a reason for Cheung's apparent suicide - and the company declined to discuss the matter - Lee Der was under pressure in a global controversy over the safety of Chinese-made products.

This month, Mattel Inc. was forced to recall 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by Lee Der because they were decorated with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The toys, sold in the United States under the Fisher-Price Inc. brand, included likenesses of Big Bird and Elmo, as well as the Dora and Diego characters.

Days later, Chinese officials temporarily banned Lee Der from exporting products.

The recall was among the largest in recent months involving Chinese products, which have come under scrutiny worldwide for containing potentially dangerous high levels of chemicals and toxins.

Mattel is expected to announce another recall of a Chinese-made toy as early as today because it may contain excessive amounts of lead paint. The latest recall, whose details could not be immediately learned, involves a different Chinese supplier, according to three people close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Yesterday, Indianapolis-based Gilchrist & Soames, a leading supplier of toiletries for luxury hotels, recalled complimentary tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste worldwide after tests showed some contain a potentially toxic chemical.

The company said some samples showed the tubes contained diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze that can be toxic to the kidneys and liver.

The toothpaste was made in China by Ming Fai Enterprise International Co. Ltd. The Food and Drug Administration is not aware of any U.S. reports of poisonings from the toothpaste, according to a statement from the company.