Toys made by Mattel based on popular characters like Barney, Dora and Diego were being recalled Friday in some Asian and European countries after the toymaker warned of lead in the paint.

The action is part of a worldwide recall of 1.5 million plastic toys aimed at preschoolers announced this week by the Mattel division Fisher-Price.

The recall includes 967,000 toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States since May. The Chinese vendor was said to have used a non-approved paint pigment containing excessive amounts of lead, which could harm young children.

Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, said Thursday that the global recall would cut its pretax operating income by $30 million.

In Japan, the toys' importer, Progress Interactive, said on its Web site that it and Mattel were jointly recalling the products and will make refunds to customers. It did not say how many toys would be affected in Japan.

Toys "R" Us Inc.'s office in Kawasaki said about 50 shops out of the 149 outlets it operates in Japan have removed all the affected products in line with the importer's recall announcement on Thursday.

One Japanese retailer said it took other Fisher-Price toys off its shelves as a precaution.

"We didn't stock any of the affected products, but we quickly removed other Mattel's Fisher-Price brand items from our shelves until the importer's safety assurance is made," said Masaki Shimizu, a spokesman of Mitsukoshi Ltd., one of the major department stores in Japan.

In Southeast Asia, six models have been recalled in the Philippines, four in Singapore, three in Malaysia and one in Indonesia, said Mattel Southeast Asia Marketing Manager Cheok Ching Won in Kuala Lumpur.

"We have already informed all our retailers in the region, in those countries where the products are affected, and all affected products (have) already been pulled off the shelves," Cheok said.

Cheok said the impact of the recall in Asia was limited.

"They are very a small fraction of it ... because they're not our core toys, and they're in very small quantities," she said. She did not have a figure of how many toys were recalled in Asia.

The affected toys were manufactured between April 19 and July 6 by a Chinese vendor that had applied decorative paint to the toys, she said.

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, Toys "R" Us stores have removed eight of the toy types identified by the Fisher-Price recall, Hong Kong company Li & Fung, which runs the stores, said in a statement Friday.

It said the toys were removed as a precaution.

Meanwhile, European Union regulators circulated details of the recall to authorities in all 27 member states.

In Britain, Mattel said most of the toys affected were still in warehouses and had not yet gone on sale.

But Fisher-Price Belgium said a few products may have found their way into the hands of children. It plans to place ads in local newspapers this weekend with details of nine products that it is recalling - including Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go toys and the Let's Go playset.

Belgian press reports said 5,000 of the toys were originally headed for the Belgian toy shops.