Consumer group claims Zhu Zhu Pets unsafe

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- The maker of Zhu Zhu Pets, one of the hottest-selling toys of the holiday season, defended its product after a consumer Web site said one of the robotic hamsters carries high amounts of a dangerous chemical.

Mister Squiggles, the light-brown version of the hamsters, has unsafe levels of antimony, said Dara O'Rourke, co-founder of GoodGuide.

The chemical can cause cancer, lung and heart problems, according to GoodGuide.

"We found levels of about 93 to 106 parts per million," O'Rourke said. "The new federal standard is about 60 parts per million."

But the toy manufacturer, St. Louis, Missouri-based Cepia LLC, said its products are safe.

"All our products are subjected to several levels of rigorous safety testing conducted by our own internal teams, as well as the world's leading independent quality assurance testing organization, and also by independent labs engaged by our retail partners," Russ Hornsby, CEO of Cepia, said in a written statement. "The results of every test prove that our products are in compliance with all government and industry safety standards."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/06/zhu.zhu.toys/

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buyer, beware

That's what Dow told the DoD about Agent Orange, and we all know how that turned out. Don't trust the corporate line of propaganda.

chemicals in them. Wish I could find the article.

The toys, the candy, it's hard to find any of them that are not made in China.

ALMOST EVERY FUCKING TIME! GODDAMN!

Now their kids can wear shoes and clothes with lead in them. Stupid morons.

I think China gets an unfair rap for toy recalls/dangerous toys. For one, the companies which have shipped jobs overseas are just looking for the cheapest price, not the best/safest product. They are probably not providing clear specs or guidelines about safety. For another, if 90% of our toys are made in China, it would be logical to assume that 90% of our recalls or problem toys are going to come from China. I wonder if any one has ever done any research to find out if it is in fact proportional. In any case, I blame the sellers.

That being said, the past two holiday seasons I made a real effort and most of my gifts were made in the USA . It didn't have to do with safety as much as trying to support US jobs (although admittedly, I didn't pay attention to Union vs. exploited US labor). My other gift store was Ten Thousand Villages - a fair trade shop.

for selling out labor environmental standards and human rights to make a buck. I also blame companies here that outsource manufacturing to those factories, and I blame people who buy the shit. There's plenty of blame.

ETA: Thanks for your efforts during the holiday shopping. Now spread it to all year around. ;)

98% of recalled products in the U.S. are foreign made.

90% of those recalled products were made in China.

Only about 10% of recalled products are ever returned. Most recalled/unsafe products remain in homes with people who are unaware of the recall.

A person seriously reduces their risk of harm from unsafe products just by avoiding foreign made goods, especially products made in China.

What do you suppose is the number 1 concern for U.S. companies who outsource to China? You & I might think safety was their greatest concern, but we would be wrong - it's knock offs. Yes, they worry most about manufacturers in China producing knock offs of their products. Our safety isn't on their radar.

I'm a small business person and data from two reports just came in handy. :)

that sure makes me feel safe.

Uh-huh. Trust your capitalist overlords. They always speak the truth.

Great, we've been racing to the bottom to compete with China in terms of wages... but now product safety?

:rofl:

turns out to be toxic. Why couldn't Tickle Me, Elmo have been caught in some kind of back alley shooting dope and be on an upcoming episode of "Where Are They Now" instead? I still find that little shit annoying.

Sure, it's toxic in it's elemental form and some compounds, but it's used as a flame retardent in plastics as Antimony trioxide.

From Wikipedia:
Antimony trioxide is the most important of the antimony compounds and is primarily used in flame-retardant formulations. These flame-retardant applications include such markets as children's clothing, toys, aircraft and automobile seat covers. It is also used in the fiberglass composites industry as an additive to polyester resins for such items as light aircraft engine covers. The resin will burn while a flame is held to it but will extinguish itself as soon as the flame is removed. Antimony sulfide is also one of the ingredients of safety matches.

So, it's been used in children's clothing and toys already for years as Antimony trioxide.

What did they find in the tests?

... in the countries that makes these things, you'd think they would show the same level of concern for US.

:sarcasm:

I only hope that the executives who make these things give them to their own kids to play with.

Source: The Guardian

Consumer testing lab finds high levels of toxic chemical on top Christmas toy, as manufacturer insists product is safe
Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 December 2009 09.28 GMT



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/07/go-go-hamsters-health-scare

GoodGuide's research method was just effectively debunked on NPR.

Take caution spreading allegations here, the toy may quite safe after all.

This is what you get for throwing me away five years ago!!

More to come from the digipet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/6755192/Go-Go-hamsters-survive-toxic-scare.html

Go-Go hamsters survive toxic scare

News of the apparent poison scare sent a panic around the toy industry and sent shares in the toys' UK distributor, Aim-listed Character Group, down by as much as 8pc. The £10 animatronic Cricetinae are on track to be Christmas's biggest selling toy with more than 600,000 of the battery-operated toys expected to be sold by December 25 in the UK alone.

However after a frantic day of investigations, statements and clarifications it transpired that the claims by US consumer group Good Guide were based on different testing methodology to those used by European and US regulators and that the hamster in question – Mr Squiggles – is perfectly safe.

I wonder when it will be time to fly this.

looks like toy WAR!

Cepia, the US group that produces the toys, said that it had referred the incident to its US attorneys and was "considering proceedings" against Good Guide. In a statement on its website, Character Group said: “We assure you that Mr Squiggles is absolutely safe and has passed the most rigorous testing in the toy industry for consumer health and safety.”

Character’s executive chairman Richard King told The Daily Telegraph that the company was “pretty upset” at the claims. “It’s disruptive and it’s unfair at this time of year,” he said. “I am not that happy about it but it is part of the game we are in.”

How in the world do you use antimony in ANY fake hair/toy fuzz manufacturing process?

I know it works good in tracer ammo, and other metallurgy,
but toy hair? WTF?