Amid a fresh wave of toy recalls yesterday, a consumer advocacy group said
it had found hazardous levels of lead in many toys made out of vinyl
plastic, potentially expanding the scope of testing and recalls of
contaminated toys.
A random testing of more than 50 plastic toys found high lead content in
11 of them, according to Mike Schade, a campaigner for the Center for
Health, Environment and Justice, which helped organize the testing. Ten
were made out of polyvinyl chloride, also referred to as PVC or vinyl.
Three contained “extremely high” lead levels — a Go Diego Go backpack, a
Superfly monkey and a pair of Circo Lulu boots.
Tests of the backpack found lead levels as high as 4,600 parts per
million. The standard for lead in paint set by the federal Consumer
Product Safety Commission is 600 parts per million.
Millions of Chinese-made toys and products have been recalled this summer
because of lead contamination in their painted coatings. In separate
announcements yesterday, Target and RC2, the maker of Thomas & Friends
wooden railway toys, recalled 550,000 toys.
Last month, Toys “R” Us stopped selling vinyl baby bibs at its stores
nationwide, and offered customers refunds for about a million bibs, after
tests confirmed that at least some of the items, which were made in China,
were contaminated with lead.
The coalition of environmental and consumer groups that organized the
testing is calling for a recall of all toys containing PVC. Other toys
that the group said it found contained lead also include a Wal-Mart Neon
Writing Slate and a Spider-Man pencil case. Their findings will be made
public today.
“It’s absolutely astonishing to us that lead continues to be found in
children’s toys despite the fact that consumer and environmental groups
have been warning the government about this issue” for more than 10 years,
said Mr. Schade, whose group coordinates a national campaign to phase out
vinyl plastics from consumer products and packaging.
In recent months, recalls have shaken the American toy industry, led to a
surge in testing, prompted Congressional hearings and raised calls for
more stringent testing rules. In the spring, pet food was also recalled
because it contained melamine. More than 20 million pieces of children’s
jewelry also have been recalled because of lead in the last three years.
RC2 said yesterday that it was recalling 200,000 toys because the paint
contained levels of lead that violate federal standards. RC2 recalled 1.5
million railway toys in June because of similar problems.
The company said that since those recalls it had tested 1,500 toy styles
from its popular Thomas & Friends line and the results of those tests
prompted yesterday’s announcement. The chief executive, Curtis Stoelting,
apologized for the “burden that recalls creates for parents.”
The toys being recalled are five products from the Thomas & Friends
product line: a black cargo car, a Toad vehicle, an olive green Sodor
Cargo Box, a green maple tree and signal base accessories.
Target also said yesterday that it was recalling 350,000 gardening toys
because of excessive lead levels. The toys, the Happy Giddy gardening
tools and Sunny Patch children’s chairs, were sold from August 2006 to
this August in Target stores nationwide.
The company had disclosed recently that two other products it sold — David
Kirk Happy Giddy children’s garden trowel and Sunny Patch Safari
children’s chair — were found to contain hazardous levels of lead.
Acute exposure to lead, by chewing on a lead toy, for example, or
repetitive exposure to lead by handling toys that contain it, can lead to
severe neurological and behavioral problems.
Lead was banned in paint on toys and other children’s products in the
United States in the 1970s, but the problem has arisen again as more toys
are imported from China.
Eighty percent of toys sold in the United States are made in China, mostly
through outsourcing arrangements to vendors.
By: Jad Mouawad
