WASHINGTON - THE vast majority of Americans surveyed say they associate China with unsafe toys, and they are divided on whether they trust major toymakers to ensure products on store shelves are safe, according to a MSN-Zogby poll.

The poll, released on Monday, found 83 per cent of Americans polled associate unsafe toys with China.

Seventy per cent said they believed American-made toys were the safest, while 11 per cent said toys from Western Europe were the safest and 3 per cent said they most trusted toys made in Canada, the poll found.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met with Chinese officials and the two countries agreed to make sure that Chinese-made toys meet United States safety standards.

Toy safety ignited as an issue during the middle of the year with Mattel and other companies recalling millions of Chinese-made toys for lead or other hazards.

Several companies sent their executives to Congress to pledge that their toys were safe, but with only mixed results.

Just 42 per cent of Americans polled said they associated large manufacturers like Mattel, Walt Disney and Hasbro with safe toys while 43 per cent did not. But the poll found that 40 per cent believed that smaller toy companies were no better at ensuring their products were safe.

The majority of toys sold in the United States are made in China, including most action figures, Barbie dolls and inexpensive tricycles.

The Zogby Interactive poll of 4,103 adults was conducted between Nov 14 and 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points. -- REUTERS