The toy company Mattel has announced it is recalling certain toys made in China from Costa Rican stores because paint used in making them contains potentially dangerous levels of lead.

This paint was used in popular plastic dolls of Dora the Explorer and Elmo and other Sesame Street characters.

Marcial Vargas, Mattel's Costa Rica representative, explained in a press conference yesterday that of the 4,900 toys that entered the country, 1,200 were distributed to stores; the rest are being stored in the company's warehouses.

The Economy Ministry has ordered the 38 official distributors of these toys, which were fabricated from April 19 to July 6, to recall them from the market and give clients refunds. The company is unsure how many of them were sold during the several months they were on sale.

Vice-Minister Jorge Woodbridge said “we are trying to recall these products from the market quickly to avoid damage to children's health,” since lead can be toxic in large quantities.

Mattel's Fisher Price division announced a recall of almost one million of these toys from U.S. markets July 31 upon finding that the paint used contained high levels of lead.