Some Baby Bibs (sold at Toys R Us) Said to Contain Levels of Lead (made in China)

[UpInArms]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 — Certain vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys “R” Us stores appear to be contaminated with lead, laboratory tests have shown, making the inexpensive bibs another example of a made-in-China product that may be a health hazard to children.

The vinyl bibs, which feature illustrations of baseball bats and soccer balls and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh characters, are sold for less than $5 each under store brand labels, including Especially for Baby and Koala Baby.

Tests this summer, financed by the Center for Environmental Health of Oakland, Calif., found lead as high as three times the level allowed in paint in several styles of the bibs purchased from both Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores in California.

A separate test by a laboratory hired by The New York Times of the same Toys “R” Us bibs, purchased in Maryland, found a similar level of contamination.

“These bibs are exposing children to lead in an unnecessary way,” said Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit agency that for the last decade has been testing consumer products for lead, in an effort to remove them from the market.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/business/15lead.html?ex=1344830400&en=c8b0b2167613a273&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[MissB]

1. At some point, I'll just have to assume that all Chinese made products present a hazard

to my family's health.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Or that China is waging war on us...

[kestrel91316]

3. I have already come to that conclusion.

They are going to see their US market dry up and blow away if they keep this up.

[Auggie]

4. Or manufacturing will move elsewhere

[onehandle]

5. Ban Chinese Imports!

C'mon Wal-Mart Nation. Won't somebody think of the children?

[cui bono]

6. What about dog toys? Is anyone testing them?

I have a box full since my dog goes through them pretty quickly and most are made in China. :(

[NYC]

7. Wal-Mart sold bibs with lead within the past year.

They took them off the shelves, but had sold them for about 4 years.

[Robbien]

8. China shouldn't get all the blame.

Each distributor here in the US is responsible for the quality of the product they sell. They should have had quality controls in place to stop the products from getting into the publics hands.

Right now only a few companies selling children's items are owning up to the problem and increasing their quality controls.

Paint is used on so many items, the least of which is children's items.

[amandabeech]

9. These plants should be moved back to the U.S. so that the parents

other relatives, neighbors and friends of these kids make the products. Not too many people would keep their mouths shut on corporate malfeasance if they thought about some hazardous product in the mouth of their favorite toddler.

Just moving production to Vietnam or India isn't going to cut it.

[dbackjon]

10. Agreed

Maybe people will finally wake up and realize that all the money saved shipping production off-shore is going to be lost via recalls and lawsuits.

[burrowowl]

11. Are they for X-raying unerupted baby teeth?

This is criminal and corporatists should be put into prison for off-shoring.
Why aren't your children learning?! Lead, mecury any heavy metal is NOT GOOD, including Depleted Uranium, that we sprayed all over Iraq!