Toymaker knew about lead [View All]

Source: Chicago Tribune

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION HIDDEN HAZARDS

Toymaker knew about lead
Tribune inquiry prompts company to recall toy 5 years after test

By Maurice Possley and Michael Oneal | Tribune staff reporters
August 9, 2007

The makers of a Thomas & Friends spinning top on Wednesday initiated a voluntary recall of the product, prompted by a Tribune test that found a painted wooden knob on one of the toys contained 40 times the legal limit for lead.

The toymaker, Schylling Associates, of Rowley, Mass., said the recall would cover 24,000 Chinese-made tops shipped by the company between June 2001 and July 2002.

The company also revealed that its own records show it knew about the problem five years ago. But instead of recalling the tops, a Schylling executive said, the company changed the design to a plastic knob.

...

The company is the latest toymaker forced to recall lead-tainted products made in China. The number of Schylling toys affected is far smaller than the recent lead-related recalls of nearly 1 million Fisher-Price toys and 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys. But the Schylling case illustrates how the government's reliance on companies to police themselves can leave consumers unwittingly vulnerable to unsafe products.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-thu_leadaug09,1,608554.story