The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price announced a recall of almost one million
licensed character toys due to lead poisoning hazards. The recall involves 83 different figures and toys including Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer characters and accessories. The toys may be coated with lead paint. Lead is toxic if ingested and can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and even death. Children are particularly vulnerable.
The toys were sold in retail stores nationwide between May 2007 and August 2007 (though note that the recall was issued on August 2, 2007).
According to reports, the toys were produced in a Chinese factory that had a "long and trusted" relationship with Fisher-Price, and was allowed to do its own product-safety testing using Fisher-Price-trained staff. As we have previously stated, we believe that independent, third-party inspections and certifications are crucial to keeping dangerous products off of U.S. shelves.
For a complete list of products involved go to www.service.mattel.com or call Fisher-Price at 800-916-4498. If you own any of these toys, take them away from children immediately and contact Fisher-Price to receive a voucher for a replacement toy. The recalled product must be returned to Fisher-Price to get the voucher.
This is fourth recall within the past 12 months issued by Fisher-Price or their parent company, Mattel. In May, Fisher-Price recalled 112,000 "Rainforst Open Top Take-Along Swings" after they had received 60 reports of entrapment resulting in cuts, bumps and bruises. A month earlier they recalled about 500,000 "Laugh and Learn" bunny toys due to choking hazards. In November of 2006, Mattel announced a huge recall of 2.4 million Polly Pocket playsets because the dolls and accessories contained magnets that could fall out and be swallowed or inhaled by children and pose serious internal problems. At least three children were seriously injured after swallowing more than one magnet. (To read more on the hazards of magnets see our earlier blog entry.)
Kitty Pilarz, Mattel's director of worldwide product safety said, "Mattel strictly prohibits the use of lead paint. Unfortunately, we have discovered that a company in China that manufactures our toys used paint from a non-approved supplier that contained lead, which is in direct violation of our standards."
"We are conducting a thorough review of all of our procedures and the products made for us by vendors in China," she added. "We are also working with others in the supply chain, such as retailers, who test our products to notify us as quickly as possible about any issue they may find."
This is the the 26th toy recall this year; all involved toys produced in China. Clearly, there needs to be better vigilance on the part of manufacturers to make sure the toys produced for them in foreign factories meet U.S. safety standards. But retailers must also test products they plan to carry before they are put on the shelves. Recalling unsafe products after they are in homes is a poor way to ensure the safety of the marketplace. Consumers -- especially those buying for children -- need more proactive measures to stop hazardous products from even leaving the factory.
when will america not put our children at risk to save a dollar, everything has become abouy the dollar and the bottom line.america needs to bouycoot Fisher price and Mattell for the next two years of every product that comes from china.
In the early 80's I was in China in relation to a canned mushroom problem. I have also organized 2 national workshops on Canadian food regulatory laws for countries importing foods into Canada and while working in Canadian industry I was involved in all aspects of product purchasing specifications, both for supplier and purchasing in the food, drugs, cosmetics and other industries.
While there may be many problems in China it should be noted that the responsibility for quality of imported consumer products into Canada rests strictly with Canadian importers. When we were in China we were shown good to excellent plants (and I am aware that these were selected plants). What was remarkable was that large international companies had been able to demand complete reconstruction of plants that were then following Good Manufacturing Practices and purchasing specifications and were subject to periodic inspection to ensure that all contract agreements were followed. I was also advised that some importers were buying strictly on the basis of price and had essentially no purchasing specifications.
In any quality system the idea that the purchaser sets up purchasing specification for what they buy is fundamental. Additionally, verification through testing of samples is part of good importing practices.
I think it is high time that we stop blaming China and accept full responsibility for having failed to clearly specify what we expected, whether it was lead-free paint on toys or melamine-free gluten. It was interesting that the latter issue was dropped very quickly after it was discovered that some product from the USA also contained melamine.
Someone once said: "Seeing reality is the first step towards changing it."
How do we know that the lead problem is only in the May - Aug toys? Our family has 9 of the 83 toys listed on the list, all of which are Dora and Diego toys, which were purchased as Christmas gifts for our 2 toddlers. How do I know if the paint on these products which were manufactured not all that long before the recall are not dangerous? Is there a lead test we as consumers can do to our children's toys to ensure their safety?
Thanks in advance!
This is really scary. Fisher Price should be a lot more aware of what's going on and have third party review in place AT ALL TIMES. These are our children! This isn't something to be played around with(pardon the pun). How do we know these are the only toys affected?
Kristy
It's time that parents and granparents said "no more". If our government won't protect our children...we have to. STOP buying any toys made in Communist China until we can be assured that they are 100% safe. With Christmas approaching, this would be a perfect time to say NO MORE TOXIC TOYS! Take a stand America...before we lose one child to China's negligence.
As a grandparent, I notice that my grandkids get a lot of toys such as metal cars. They take these cars to their mouths. Is there a way of knowing whether the paint on these cars have lead in them? And, if so, how can I tell? All are made in China.
I can't believe that Mattel or Fisher Price knew that in China or practically any other country its ok to use lead paint and yet we do business just for the almighty buck. Does everyone know that the reason the paint jobs on all the foreign cars they own stay better - thats because they use lead in their paint (my bodyshop guy told me this) after having three American built cars and they all rusted.
Tell Ricardo that I have not found any toys that are not made in China, and I am worried that toys for infants will be recalled next. Children from a few months until about 2 put everything in their mouths. If this could happen to a respected company, what else is out there that we have not heard about yet? I have always stayed away from Dollar Stores, but these toys are not from discount places. My grandson is 4 months old and every toy he has is made in China. I called an upscale toy store that sells educational toys and asked if they had any toys that were NOT made in China. They did not. It is scary. By the way this toy store had already had about ten phone calls that day. So, they were able to quickly answer me. Also, I searched the internet for toys not made in China. The toys I found were all for older children and not for infants. Should pedetricians routinely check for lead poinsoning?
I was watching FNC this morning and the list is apparently being extended to some junk jewlrey that we buy for our children. Also, I saw a website (www.toysafety.net) that has a list of the most dangerous toys. Who can we contact for questions about such things? My oldest daughter apparently has had some make-up and fingernail polish that has toxic chemicals in them. My baby girl has a couple of the toys listed there...
Aside from the obvious in taking these things away from them, what do we do? Are we just out the money?
I work in a day care center with many fisher price toys. How do I know the toys are safe? None of the toys have been bought in 2007 but how can I be sure toys bought earlier don't have lead?
Jan
I wanted to let everyone know that if you have a toy/children's product that has been recalled for lead paint (or anything else) that Toys 'R Us has a policy that they will take back any recalled product, even if you did not purchase the product there. You can go to their website at http://www2.toysrus.com/safety/prodRecalls.cfm for more details on it. Also, any product that is recalled by the company will either have an available "fix" or you can send the product back to them. They pay for shipping, and then they either send you a replacement toy, or a gift certificate. Hope that helps!
Previous
