By Nicole Maestri

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mattel Inc.’s (MAT.N) Fisher-Price unit is recalling about 1.5 million Chinese-made toys around the world, nearly a million of them in the United States, because their paint may contain too much lead.

The recall is the latest in a string of incidents that have fueled U.S.-China tensions over the safety of Chinese products.

The recalled toys, which include popular preschool characters like Elmo, Big Bird, and Dora, were made by a contract manufacturer in China using a non-approved paint pigment containing lead, Mattel said on Wednesday.

The company said it is recalling roughly 967,000 plastic toys from the U.S. market and about 533,000 from international markets, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico.

“We operate on a global basis,” said Jim Walter, senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance at Mattel, adding that the recall could affect all its markets around the world.

In the United States, the products were sold nationwide at retail stores between May and August, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. They sold for $5 to $40.

Mattel said U.S. consumers should contact Fisher-Price to arrange a product return and to receive a voucher for a replacement toy.

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