Lead Toys Made for the Mouth of Older Children Recalled

Most parents with children older than pre-school age have ignored many of the lead paint recalls thinking that their children don’t put the toys in their mouth. Unfortunately today, we see why all parents need to pay attention to the recalls. Almost 30,000 “Hillbilly Teeth” sold over the past three years were recalled for excessive lead paint in the teeth. (These are toys obviously put in the child’s mouth.) And Michaels today recalled over 300,000 seasonal writing pens for excessive lead. I don’t know about you but as a child, pre-teen, teenager and sometimes even as an adult, when I am writing I will stop and put the pen in my mouth.

WE ALL NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO TOY RECALLS.

See scrolling pictures on the right side of this blog to see more toy recalls and other child product recalls.

Toys"R"Us Offers All Natural Toys

Toys”R”Us joins the going “Green” trend. Today I received a monthly coupon mailer from Toys”R”Us that includes the introduction of their new ALL NATURAL TOYS. The natural toys include a Formula Car, Racing Car, and Shape Sorter made from natural, replenishable materials that are chemical free, forest friendly, and eco-friendly.

They are expected to add natural cotton plush animals and Organic Cotton dolls which are colored using natural or water based dyes and made with unprocessed, unbleached and untreated cotton and are expected to be available by Earth Day, April 22nd.

Yeah!

Washington State Children's Safe Product Act

The Washington State Governor recently passed into law the Children’s Safe Product Act which will go into effect in July 2009. This new law requires toy makers to reduce the use of lead to 90 parts per million (a number much lower than the current federal amount of 600). In addition, the law limits the use of lead, cadmium, phthalates and other materials which could affect a variety of children’s products including crib mobiles, toys, and car seats. Under the new law, manufacturers will be required to notify the state regulators if their items contain chemicals of “high concern.” The list of “high concern” chemicals will be generated by the Department of Ecology. It has been estimated that up to 20% of the toys sold in the state could be banned under the new law.

Global Product Safety Standard Meeting in June

The EU and United States are meeting in June to consider a global set of product safety standards. Manufacturers such as Hasbro and Mattel are said to be in favor of a global standard according to an article in Reuters by Darren Ennis. Nancy Nord of the CPSC suggested in this article that one of the reasons for all of the toy recalls is that companies were manufacturing to different safety standards for different countries and that a global standard would help manufacturers to produce more consistent products.

Buyer Beware - Deceptive New "Made In USA" Label

As I was doing research last night for SmartToyChoice.com, I came across a new "Made in the USA" label for a car seat that I thought was incredibly deceptive.

After all the toy recalls China last year, this new label gives the warm and fuzzy feeling that you are buying a nice, safe USA made product - BUT do you notice the small print below the large USA flag? WITH GLOBAL COMPONENTS

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with products made in whole or in part outside the US but the super large US flag and the really small print for the global components seems quite deceptive to me!

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!)

The Words of a Five Year Old on Toy Recalls

As I prepared the SmartToyChoice.com Quarterly Newsletter today, my five year old daughter oohed and aahed over the pictures of toys I included in the newsletter. She would say - "Oh Mom - the Cinderalla Car looks so neat - and I would respond - "sorry, that has been recalled." Then she would say - "Oh Mom - look at that neat coaster" (referring to the Magtastik Wonder Coaster) and I would respond - "unfortunately that toy has been recalled too." After the third toy she asked about and I responded that it was part of a toy recall, my daughter exclaimed - "DON'T THEY MAKE ANY TOYS THAT AREN'T RECALLED!"