The Great Toy Recall of 2007

Newton - Recent events have shaken parent’s security in their kids’ safety. The conventional wisdom has always been: educate them to help them one day decide right from wrong for themselves. Educate them about the dangers of talking to strangers, of smoking and doing drugs and about safe sex. Educate them so that they take care of themselves, their fellow man and our planet. Make sure their play environment is safe, with outlet covers, age appropriate toys, the right schools, lots of supervised activities. If parents do all this, they think, “our kids will be safe.” Parent now know they can no longer take for granted the toys they buy are safe courtesy of the long list of recalls released over the last month. Starting Aug. 1, Mattel announced a recall of 86 different Fisher Price toys- all of which were either Sesame Street or Dora and Diego toys. The recall was due to lead paint used in the production of the toys. Lead paint is toxic and can cause severe damage if it is ingested. Not two weeks later, Mattel released a new list of toys. This time the 78 toys recalled were from the Polly Pocket, Batman and Doggie Daycare lines along with a Barbie and Tanner set, all due to very powerful magnets. According to the Mattel website, “The magnets inside these dolls and accessories can fall out- undetected to parents and caregivers. These magnets can be swallowed or aspirated by young children or placed by a child in their nose or ears. When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract to each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage, which can be fatal. Aspiration to the lungs requires immediate surgery. Magnets placed in the nose or ears can cause swelling and be difficult to remove.” Last week Mattel released yet another list of recalled toys. This time adding seven Barbie playsets, a Geotrax engine and track set, and the It’s a Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band. To date, that makes a total of 174 toys recalled. The Mattel Web site now includes a video apology with reassurance they are doing everything possible to “keep our kids safe” from Bob Eckert, chairman and CEO of Mattel. At area toy stores parents can find information on how to recognize if they have a recalled toy and what to do with it if they do. Hobbytown USA in Newton doesn’t carry any of the Mattel toys but they do carry Thomas the Tank Engine toys, which experienced its own recall for lead paint back in June. At Childs Playspot in Lafayette Village manager Lisa Deleshaw expressed a similar sentiment. “Thomas is the only one we carry so far that’s been listed.” Deleshaw said that is hasn’t hurt sales overall, though some parents have said that they had packed up the Thomas trains and are done with them. She also said people are more cautious and has had parents ask about the safely of other toys. “We’ve called all of our major companies to ask about their policies. Owners Melissa and Doug are real people, with five kids and one more on the way,” said Deleshaw. “Their kids play with their toys. They said all their toys are retested once they hit the US.” Walmart carries all of the toys which have been recalled lately. Capri Malson, manager of the toy department at the Newton location, said they only had to pull five different toys, for a total of about 20 items. “Every six months we change our stock and get rid of the older stuff,” explained Malson. The recall pertains to toys purchased within a certain time period and Walmart has lists at the stores for parents to check all the recalls. If a parent finds they have a recalled toy which Walmart carries, they will exchange it or give store credit for it. Otherwise, they need to follow up with Mattel. Malson went on to express concern for a common misconception with the recalls. Many of the news reports lead people to believe that the fault is with the Chinese government and not Mattel. “It’s an American Mattel factory in China, and has nothing to do with China itself. It’s run under American guidelines,” said Malson. “Unfortunately, someone was probably trying to save a couple of dollars and took a shortcut.” Two Newton moms with 3-year olds expressed their concerns with the recalls. “We had the Dora house from my older son, Michael, and all the Dora toys. We had gotten rid of the house awhile ago and had only a couple of figures left,” said Marie Palmisano. When she heard about the recall, she didn’t bother to look to see if the Dora toys she had were on the list, she “just got rid of them all. It wasn’t worth keeping.” DonnaMarie Carson just recently bought a Diego doll and the Dora Castle set for her daughter, Elizabeth’s 3rd birthday. The castle is on the list of recalls, which left Carson extremely upset. Both moms felt the same way. “You would hope the toys would be safe, but they’re obviously not. It’s scary,” said Carson. Palmisano added, “They do all this stuff to keep kids safe, with choking hazard warnings and age appropriate advisories, but they’re not really keeping track of their stuff. How did they not know? It’s insane to me.” Carson pointed out that a lot of people buy things from garage sales or get hand me downs from family. “You never think that it’d be unsafe. If you’re not diligent, you can’t catch all the information. You’re afraid to miss any important information,” said Carson. As for toy purchases in the future for the two moms: “Maybe this will spark other companies to be more careful. I can see it now, other companies starting to put “Lead Free” labels on their toys,” joked Palmisano. For more information on the recalls you can go to www.mattel.com and click on the voluntary recall link. For Thomas recall information, www.rc2corp.com.