I don't think it's weird. I think companies sell the manufacture of their products to the lowest bidders, and don't ask questions that they don't want the answers to (like, do they follow US guidelines for lead in the paint, do they follow child labor laws, etc). It's only when they get snagged that they decide to "voluntarily" recall items, then blame the foreign companies that they hired, saying they had no idea that US laws were not being followed, they assure people that the quality of their products is of the utmost concern to them, ... blah blah blah. My guess is that our children have been playing with lead-laden toys for quite some time now.
Remember the recall of Colgate toothpaste a few months ago, for having more than the permissible level of polyethylene glycol (antifreeze, allowed to be used as a sweetener at low levels), and the pet food that killed pets because companies used melamine (a plastic) that fooled lab equipment into thinking the product was high in protein? None of these companies was some little rinky dink company, but they were all major companies. The cheaper a company can make a product and get away with it, the better (for them, that is).
I think leaf piles, home made dough and mud puddles are sounding better and better for play time these days.