Toymaker knew about lead

[Snazzy]

Source: Chicago Tribune

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION HIDDEN HAZARDS

Toymaker knew about lead
Tribune inquiry prompts company to recall toy 5 years after test

By Maurice Possley and Michael Oneal | Tribune staff reporters
August 9, 2007

The makers of a Thomas & Friends spinning top on Wednesday initiated a voluntary recall of the product, prompted by a Tribune test that found a painted wooden knob on one of the toys contained 40 times the legal limit for lead.

The toymaker, Schylling Associates, of Rowley, Mass., said the recall would cover 24,000 Chinese-made tops shipped by the company between June 2001 and July 2002.

The company also revealed that its own records show it knew about the problem five years ago. But instead of recalling the tops, a Schylling executive said, the company changed the design to a plastic knob.

...

The company is the latest toymaker forced to recall lead-tainted products made in China. The number of Schylling toys affected is far smaller than the recent lead-related recalls of nearly 1 million Fisher-Price toys and 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys. But the Schylling case illustrates how the government's reliance on companies to police themselves can leave consumers unwittingly vulnerable to unsafe products.


Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-thu_leadaug09,1,608554.story

[Snazzy]

1. and batteries while I'm at it

—About 1,400 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries containing Sony cells used in Toshiba notebook computers, manufactured in China and imported by Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., because they can overheat and pose a fire hazard. The company has received three reports of batteries outside the United States overheating. Details: by phone at 800-457-7777; by Web at http://www.bxinfo.toshiba.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6584626

[Stargazer99]

2. The almighty god profit-as bad as the pagans sacrificing

their children...aren't we doing the same when we allow this in the name of coroporate profit? Tell me the difference.

[NuttyFluffers]

5. this modern way you don't have to see the results, thus we all feel innocent!

and since you feel innocent, you can do it again -- and make more money, to get more power. hence it's better!
:7

see, being honest and up front about the evils you do is barbaric. only uncultured heathens who don't know better do that. to be civilized you need a thin veneer of pretense to make the medicine go down. who cares that the result is the same -- it's the illusion of civility that matters!
:evilgrin:

[Tsiyu]

3. Do symptoms of Autism mimic symptoms of lead poisoning?

One has to wonder what we have been doing to our babies.

My two youngest LOVED Thomas the Tank Engine. How long has this been a factor?

How long ago should we have given up trusting manufacturers and our own inspectors?

So many questions in my mind.

[Cobalt-60]

4. we should never trust manufacturers

Inspectors?
They rocked - until Dick and Junior started subverting regulatory agencies.

[TheMadMonk]

6. Not as a rule. Lead make you stupid.

And somehow generations of babies grew up chewing on lead painted toys and cot rails.

IIRC the average lead levels in kids in the 80s were estimated to have cost them something like 2 IQ points. Not good but on its own not particularly terrible except as part and parcel of a whole lot of other intellect damaging pollutants.

Remove any lead as you find it, but save your worrying for when you catch them gnawing on a Nicad battery or pouring mercury down a chook.


What inspectors? Dunno about you lot, but in Aust, Weights and Measures, Health and Safety, and so on don't have inspectors who proactively ensure that everything is on the up and up. They each have a handful officers who "respond" to complaints .

And reputation is how you trust a manufacturer or supplier. You'll pay for the privilege but you will also get what you pay for. A product that does what it is supposed to, reliably, and for a long time.

A good colour TV once lasted fifteen years or more; A refrigerator or car, thirty if looked after. One third of that is now considered a good run for a consumer product, and it can be considered a win if your purchase lasts out the warranty for cheap rubbish.


Hmmm. The lead in our generation's diet might explain a few things after all.