Evenflo Discovery Car Seat Recall

This week the Evenflo Discovery Car Seats were recalled. As we prepare to expand the SmartToyChoice.com service to include other children’s products and car seats, I am reminded of why we created the personalized recall notification service. While entering the past car seat recalls (from 2007 on) most of them state that the manufacturer will notify registered customers of the recall or send them the repair kit.

But will all owners of the car seats BE notified?

One recall for the Viva car seat by miaModa was recalled because the car seats were sold without a registration card – so did the owners of these car seats still register them?

Or what about my scenario – I bought a Peg Perego infant car seat in 2002, just before my daughter was born and I promptly mailed in my registration. In 2004, we moved. In 2005, I used the car seat again for my son when he was born. Then in 2006, just before we moved again, I gave the car seat to my friend who was pregnant. Before her daughter was born she took the car seat to the fire station to have them help install it. They asked her if she had installed the repair kit from the recall. She called me to ask if I had – I had NO idea the car seat had ever been recalled. Did my registration get lost in the mail? Did I not receive the recall notification because the time expired on the mail forwarding?

SmartToyChoice.com allows you to see exactly what you have registered. If you move, you can easily update your address for all of your SmartToyChoice.com registered products. If your email address changes but you do not update your SmartToyChoice.com account, we will be notified when we send the quarterly email and will follow up with a post card to your home address in your account (before the time limit expires on the mail forwarding!)

Albany NY Kidz Expo

We are busy preparing for the Albany Kidz Expo on Saturday, March 1st from 10-5 at the Empire State Convention Center. SmartToyChoice will have a booth on the main floor near the bounce house. Please stop by to learn how you can manage the safety of your children's toys through our personalized toy recall notification service. There will be a drawing for a free one year subscription to SmartToyChoice.com.

We look forwarded to talking with you.

Claire

Safety chief urges toymakers to get the lead out

In an article by Karey Wutkowski at http://www.reuters.com/article/Regulation08/idUSN0725654020080219, the top U.S. product safety regulator on Tuesday, February 19, 2008, urged manufacturers to remove lead from children's products before congressional action would essentially ban lead from toys. Congress is expected to vote to increase funding for the CPSC and cut the amount of allowable lead content in toys. Nancy Nord of the CPSC suggested that the time for testing lead tolerances should be over.

While excessive levels of lead dominated the news before Christmas and accounted for 42 of the 81 recalls issued by the CPSC in 2007, less than 20% of the 27 million toys recalled last year were due to lead. Magnets, burn issues, and lacerations accounted for the other 21 million toys. Again in 2008, lead accounts for less than 20% of the 300,000 toys recalled so far.

As a mother, I applaud the efforts to remove lead from my children's toys (I thought that happened a long time ago), though Congress does still need to increase funding for the CPSC to help oversee all the other manufacturing problems.

No Future Change to Made in China

Over 75% of the toys sold in the United States are made in China. As of January 25,2008, there have been seven recalls of over 200,000 toys. All of the toys have been made in China or Taiwan. Will there be a change in where the toys are made?

In a recent article in the International Herald Tribune by Donald Greenlees titled Toy Industry Tries to Regain Parents' Trust, the author summarizes the articles stating that it

"is unlikely to see any fundamental change in where toys are made.Despite the product scares of 2007 and the prospect of higher costs, toy companies say there is no realistic alternative to China.Philip Shoptaugh, who owns the Oakland, California-based Shoptaugh Games, an educational toy maker, said China's toy industry infrastructure and labor rates still give it a big edge over alternatives "I think there are probably a lot of shoppers who made an effort over Christmas to read the box and say 'it's made in China, I won't buy made in China this year,"' he said."But having said that, are you going to pay twice as much for a doll because it's not made in China? The thing is you cannot make these products in the United States and have them be competitive on the shelf."

After hearing of all the toy recalls last year and the problem products (like antifreeze in toothpaste) from China, I decided to ban all toys from China in our house. I looked at all the toys in our house and found ONE made in Germany - all the rest - China. So I started looking for alternatives - and for some toys there are definitely alternatives. But while we may be willing to pay more for toys not made in China - in some toy categories there just aren't good alternatives.

In starting SmartToyChoice.com, I read a very interesting book called A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni (which you can purchase for $16 through the Amazon link on our website.) A story about a family's struggle in going an entire year without buying products made in China. It was amazing to me to realize what all comes from China.

While it doesn't look like there will be a change in where the majority of toys are made, in the end, I decided I couldn't completely ban China. I definitely look at labels (especially toothpaste) and when I can buy out of China, I definitely do. As a result, I feel like I am at least now making an informed decision when I buy toys.

Alicia's News Interview on Fox 19

Alicia's interview with reporter Jill Eichhorn from Fox 19 news aired on December 29th. You can watch the two minute interview by visiting our home page - www.SmartToyChoice.com (link on the bottom right) to hear Alicia and Jill's comments about our personalized toy recall notification service.