Fisher-Price Toy Recall
More toys, about one million toys in fact, have been recalled because of a possible lead poisoning hazard.Like the recently recalled Thomas the Tank Engine toys, the 'surface paints on the toys could contain excessive levels of lead.' Complicating the recall is that 83 different toys from Fisher-Price are included this time, including the Elmo Light Up Musical Pal, Cookie Saxophone, Dora's Talking House, Diego Talking Field Journal, Elmo Stacking Rings, Sponge Bob 3 Pack Figures In Tube, Backyardigans and Pals, and many others. As you can see, the recall does include mostly characters from Sesame Street, Go Diego Go!, and Dora the Explorer.
Although it should be obvious that you should immediately take these toys away from your kids and get a refund, is there any danger from all of these lead exposures from these toy recalls? As this recall states, 'lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.' However, the EPA states that it is usually 'peeling, chipping, chalking, or cracking lead-based paint' that is a hazard and that 'lead-based paint that is in good condition is usually not a hazard.'
Since the paint in these types of plastic toys is usually in good condition, even after your child has played with the toys for some time, hopefully they will not be a real risk. Still, since we are likely to see more of these recalls in the future, to reduce your child's risk of lead poisoning from lead paint on toys, encourage them to wash their hands a lot and to not put toys in their mouth.
Keep in mind that there have been no formal guidelines on doing lead testing on kids who have been exposed to toys made with lead based paint, so you will simply have to discuss it with your pediatrician if you think that it is necessary. A lead test would be especially important if your kids frequently put the recalled toys in their mouth and/or you notice chipped or flaking paint on the toys.
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Photo courtesy of the Consumer Product Safety Commission
Comments
This drives me nuts. All of our toys, not to mention just about every other product we buy these days, is made in China. How do we know that lead paint isn’t in everything?
My son has one of these toys, and when I clicked through it asked if I purchased them before or after May 1, 2007. Apparently those purchased before are fine.
How do we know that lead paint isn’t in everything?
Short of testing all of your toys and other products yourself with a home lead testing kit, it seems like you don’t know…
It is important to keep in mind that we haven’t seen a large increase in cases of lead poisoning in recent years, even with all of the toy recalls, or at least no one has reported one…
I would like to know how they know it was only those toys manufactured after May 1st. I have several of these toys that were all purchased in December for Christmas. It makes me nervous… I wish they would specify how they know that only those toys are affected.
According to CNN, “In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, David Allmark, general manager of Fisher-Price, said the problem was detected by an internal probe and reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.” Mattel has also said that “the toys were made by a contract manufacturer using a non-approved paint pigment containing lead,” so I am guessing that maybe they started using that contract manufacturer in May???
The Associated Press has also reported that a lead poisoning specialist has stated that parents may want to have their kids tested for lead poisoning if they were exposed to the recalled toys because “it’s better to be safe than sorry.” I wonder if in addition to refunds, Mattel is going to pay for those lead tests…