How the f@#k could this happen?

[Kosmo]

So I just went through the list of recalled Fisher-Price toys, and my daughter is not going to be happy with mommy and daddy tomorrow.

It's a classic folks, lead paint on the toys. Seriously was nobody checking this, I mean frickin' lead frickin' paint.

Dora and her extended family (in multiple scenarios and attire) are currently residing in my daughters bedroom. They have a home with pool and green house. A huge minni van, Cousin Diego's jeep, and a carriage drawn by a unicorn. All her friends are there too. Every single piece is on the recall list.

We are not talking about some gum ball machine made in china prize for a quarter. These are popular items that are not cheap and are sold by the millions. Not just a few items in the toy series, but almost all of them. The recall includes Sesame Street toys as well, there is a lot of Elmo's on the list.

To me it just seems that someone was asleep at the switch here. Is there no oversight on what is coming out of china today? First it was pet food, then food for farm raised fish. Next it was pig feed and toothpaste. Finally it is some of our kids favorite toys.

Some days it sucks to be a dad, and tomorrow will be one of those days. In all honesty she will probably understand, she's a good kid and I love her.

Lead paint, I thought we were past this, it is dissapointing step in the wrong direction.

Peace.

P.S. I don't know how you folks here at DU felt about Tom Snyder. May he rest in peace.

[ClayZ]

1. Where is the list?

My three year old granddaughter had "DORA" everything!

[madrchsod]

4. here

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-toy-recall-list,1,1678752.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout
List of Recalled Toys -- chicagotribune.com

[ClayZ]

7. Thanks for the link.

K and R

[Kosmo]

10. Thanks for providing the link madrchsod.

I am new at this, bad form on my part.

[orleans]

17. DO NOT THROW THESE TOYS AWAY--YOU CAN GET A VOUCHER FOR

a replacement toy from F.P.

go to their website:
http://service.mattel.com/us/recall/default.asp?recall_id=52430

click on "review the recall announcement"

it says:
"Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled toys away from children and contact Fisher-Price. Consumers will need to return the product and will receive a voucher for a replacement toy of the consumer's choice (up to the value of the returned product).
Customer Contact: For additional information visit the firm's Web site at www.service.mattel.com or contact Fisher-Price at [phone]."

they have the entire product list there also.

and, besides getting a voucher for another product, we aren't allowed to throw away lead based paints in the garbage/landfills anymore.

was F.P. making these toys in china to lower their bottom line and increase their fucking profits?? china? where the protection laws are basically non-existent? at the expense of america's children? F.P. really means: For Profit!

[SoCalDem]

22. big deal.. a voucher for another toy that will get recalled in a few months..

I would demand MONEY back..

[renate]

2. how long has the world been poisoned by China's crappy exports?

Every new revelation is, I hope, another nail in the coffin of this garbage. I wouldn't wipe my nose on a tissue from China at this point. (If the box said "made in China," that is--I suppose next we're going to find out that there's a city in China called "USA" so they can label their dreck "Made in USA.")

[merh]

3. There is a one word answer to your question

BUSH!!

They have been asleep at the well since he took office, with his permission of course.

They don't care about the people, just the profits and the trade deals.

Bastards, one and all.

:mad:

[Xenotime]

38. Agreed.

[cynatnite]

5. Grandkids lost a couple of toys they liked...

they're young enough that they won't miss it.

You're right. It's bullshit. We shouldn't be still dealing with this crap anymore.

[dorkulon]

6. Ah, deregulation.The Reagan revolution. Supply-side awesomeness!

Don't ya just love the magic of free markets?

[Kosmo]

9. ok that made me laugh.

But I belive it is the invisible hand of free supply-side awesomeness market.

I have called Reagan Mr. Deregulation for years.

[Hekate]

12. The Invisible Hand gives us the finger once again.This is horrible.

I have to share this info with my brother, who has three really small kids, and my daughter, who has my only grandchild -- all four of these precious ones are in the exact age range to own these toys.

My gods! It's like Uncle Sam absolutely sold his soul to China -- and in exchange for what?

Poison. Poison everywhere we look.

We've been governed by fools -- greedy, greedy fools.

Hekate
:argh:

[dorkulon]

23. More like invisible handjob.

Adam Smith would have thought we were insane.

[KansDem]

41. You mean Ronald "I think we hit the jackpot" Reagan?

Ronald Reagan's Record "Firsts" --------------------

First to serve as Governor on a "conservative" platform and increase spending by 112%.

First Governor to increase personal income taxes by 60%, increase the cigarette tax by 200%, and increase state tax collections by 152%.

First to have a popularity rating of only 35% after his first two years in office.

First to have had a shotgun wedding.

First president to have been divorced.

First to increase spending by 80%--in only 8 years.

First to spend more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.

First to cut taxes by 60% for his rich pals.

First to have increased the national debt faster than growth of national income.

First to "almost": triple the national debt.

First to increase the national debt faster than growth of GDP.

First to double the deficit.

First to turn America into a debtor nation.

First to set a record for the largest one day percentage decline in the DOW in history. 10-19-87.

First to have "real" interest rates of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.

First to keep prime interest rates at 20%.

First to have home loan interest rates as high as 16%.

First to allow the savings and loan industry to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming "I think we have hit the jackpot". Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.

First to send an autographed Bible to a man he called "The Satan of Terrorists".

First to have an admiral plead the Fifth Amendment.

First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing Marine LT. Colonel plead the Fifth Amendment.

First to have a sitting cabinet member indicted.

First to have an Assistant Secretary of State indicted.

First to have an Asistant Secretary of Defense sent to prison.

First to have over 100 members of an administration charged with crimes.

First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than the cumulative total of all other presidents in the twentieth century.

First to testify "under oath" 130 times that "I don't remember".

First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times " I don't remember".

First to repeatedly falsify his wife's age, as though anyone cared.

First to promote his religious faith and while never having an active membership in any church.

First to never use the term Jesus Christ in speeches.

First to have unemployment at 10.8% since great depression.

First to attack a small unprotected nation with 88,000 inhabitants and 10,000 bb guns, and then proclaim "America stands tall again". "we have whipped the Vietnam Syndrome. We have defeated communism".

#1-in farm foreclosures.

#1-In bank failures.

#1-In Savings and Loan failures.

#1-In percent increase in personal bankruptcies.

#1-In having servicemen killed during peacetime.

#1-In largest drop in popularity in one week.

#1-In being first to honor Nazi Storm Troopers by calling them" Innocent Victims".

First to lie - over and over- to reporters "I do not dye my hair; my barber uses a special shampoo."

First to have a wife who "forced" him to wear three suits in one day.

First to boast "Not bad for a dumb guy who worked only 20 hours per week".

First to have his wife sit nearby and whisper answers to questions.

First to have his press secretary remove him from the microphone when he could not answer questions. (When the reporter shouted out "answer my question", the president replied "my handlers won't let me speak").

First to have a Special Assistant say on national TV "sometimes you had to hit him on the head with a 2 x 4 to get his attention".

#1-In needing a staff person standby during press conferences to tell the press "what he really meant".

#1-In recorded misstatements.

#1-In never having a single press conference in which he did not make incorrect statements.

First to invite the Pope to visit the White House and "bring the wife and kids".

First to fall asleep while the Pope spoke.

First 20th Century president to have historians rate him below every president of the 20th except for Richard Nixon. 1994 Poll.

First to have been openly alienated from his children.

First to suggest his eldest son undergo psychiatric examination.

First to have been voted in British polls (twice) as the "most feared leader in the world" sic em Rambo.

First to have his official biographer state on national TV: 'After he was shot in 1981, he got slower and slower each year. His speech got slower. He deliberated more and he hesitated more when he spoke. He lost his physical quickness and would not make decisions on the spot. It was a very, very slow and steady mental and physical decline".

First president to have the Geriatrics Department of a major university study his behavior and conclude that after three years in office he had Alzheimer's.

First to have over $10,000,000 increase in wealth from serving for 8 years as president.

Liberals Like Christ

[dorkulon]

44. He also gave us telemarketing and infomercials.

Thanks Ronnie!

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Well, that's what you get for breeding.

Sorry. As a fellow parent I'm a little bitter about some of the local sentiment recently.


Once upon a time, we made our own toys for our kids or they were made by local craftspersons or at least we knew by name the owner of the person who sold them to us.

Think about how simple and beautiful and imaginative those toys were. I can't help but think we've lost something very important there.

P.S. I agree.

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. No kidding. And another tip, don't take her to a restaurant to cheer her up.

She might detract from some more important patrons life experience.

:sarcasm:

[SoCalDem]

11. Gather them all up, and find the closest FP location to you

Take them there (with a cameral crew from a news station?) and DEMAND your money back.. RETAIL price...

Make some waves :)

people should not just "throw them out", like they love to tell us..

[napi21]

13. That's true! Just don't throw them out! Take them back!

S
OMETHING has to teach these companies that it's just not worth buying the cheap shit from China! The only thing that will do that is to cost them MONEY!!!! You will NOT be hurting the retailer. Trust me, they WI get their money back from Fisher Price!

[SoCalDem]

14. AND.. you do NOT want replacements.. You want the CASH..

get some friends to go too.. I bet 5-10 angry Moms with bags of Fisher Price toys..demanding their money back would be newsworthy:evilgrin:

[SoCalDem]

15. Are you near any of these locations?

Mattel, Inc.
333 Continental Boulevard
El Segundo, CA 90245-5012
310-252-2000 tel

AG Brands
8400 Fairway Place
Middleton, WI 53562-0998
608-836-4848 tel
608-836-1999 fax

Fisher-Price Brands
636 Girard Avenue
East Aurora, NY 14052
716-687-3000 tel
716- 687-3636 fax

[Kosmo]

16. Not really, but

most of these toys were bought from Toy's r us I am going to start with them.

[orleans]

25. they will probably tell you to return them to f.p.

that's when you get your friends together and try to get to a corporate office with tv cameras ablaze.

[orleans]

19. fisher price is giving out vouchers for a replacement toy if you return

their piece of crap to them.

too bad someone can't do something where they DO have to fork over cash refunds.

but to return them to toy stores--you could put a lot of small business owners in financial hardship by having to refund everyone.

now, toys r us or walmart is a different story.

[SoCalDem]

21. Here's what you do..

1. call all your friend with small kids.
2. have them gather up their mattel & FP toys
3. You call the local newspaper/tv station and tell them you and a BUNCH of your fellow Moms are mad as hell and you;re not gonna take it anymore..and you plan to descend on TrU/walmart/wherever (better would be a FP corporate office) .
4. you ask them to accompany you for the story & pics.. heck bring the crying kiddies too
5. You demnad to see the manager and then demand your CASH refunds because you don;t trust their CHINESE CRAPPY merchandise..

Front page stuff here, folks:)

[orleans]

18. please see my post #17. n/t

[comtec]

20. I just sent an email to my wife.

My nephew loves Dora and this could be very serious. Granted I live in The Netherlands and regulations and such tend to be a bit tighter here, but still... that's F U B A R~!!!!!

[Skittles]

24. it's what happens when you pimp off jobs to the lowest bidders

apparently, communism is en vogue now

[Norquist Nemesis]

27. Ah, but it take appointing "your people" to make sure that it all works out

to keep those profits in the hands of the pimps while looking the other way--check that and make it not looking at all.

Agree with the OP. No oversight, no protection. Unfortunately for us, that's exactly what was intended. When you run on a Government Doesn't Work/Isn't here to help you" mantra, working in the Government only seeks to make that a truth.

[Skittles]

28. America should make its own damn toys

:o

[Virginia Dare]

43. No, we're too busy making bombs...n/t

[sandnsea]

26. Yeah, we've got an Elmo toy

My grandson's room is packed with Diego toys, but none on the list. Most of his toys are Melissa & Doug so I contacted them a few weeks ago. They assured me they test every single batch they sell, so you can be assured of their toys at least. I would like for these toy companies to take responsibility for this themselves.

I remember back in the 80's when they were trying to get lead out of all the homes. People were PUT OUT IN THE STREET because of lead paint. Okay, we had to try to take care of the kids. So after all that, we BRING THE SHIT right back in the country OURSELVES????

I am absolutely beside myself furious over this. How fucking stupid do you have to be to not test toys for lead if they're being made without regulation.

[radfringe]

29. WHASSAMATTERWITHYOU? [heavy bloody sarcasm ahead]

:sarcasm: :sarcasm:
doncha know oversight and regulation of safety issues are harmful to biddness?
doncha know that if the gubbmint sticks it's nose into biddness it will cost the consumer more money? doncha know that by not inspecting, regulating and overseeing the safety of products is a way to control population without abortion - the more deadly products out on the market means more people will get sick and die, thus reducing the surplus population.

yes, war is one way to effectively implement population reduction, but not everyone is actually in battle - selling unsafe and deadly products expands the risk, it means the more biddness for funeral homes and coffin makers and all of the increased profits will trickle down into the economy.

\end: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Eurobabe]

30. Time to start manufacturing things in the US again

FUCK China! I won't buy a damn thing from them anymore. If it means doing without, so be it.

[Luminous Animal]

31. Why the hell is anyone surprised!!!!!!

Historically, a butt load of people died or went to prison (YES! EVEN HERE IN THE US) to secure product / industrial safety. But ya'all sat back and spat in the face of "dirty fucking hippies" and unions and allowed Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush/ to deregulate our imports and our domestic industries. The result? Poisoning our children and pets,

[Virginia Dare]

42. Exactly...

I was involved in a campaign over 10 years ago to try to bring the dangers of allowing the Chinese to manufacture so many of our goods to the public's attention. We had a few Congressional hearings, but it ultimately culminated in China gaining MFN status. This was while the Democrats were still in charge. Very disheartening.

Who knows what we've been exposed to over the years. It takes a long time for people to wake up.

Edit to add: Nancy Pelosi was one of our biggest supporters. Coincidence that all of this is coming to light now?

[Luminous Animal]

32. And by the way...

I don't want to be rude but you shouldn't be buying Fisher-Price anyway. I taught my daughter from about age 2 that those toys were built with child slave labor.

[Turn CO Blue]

33. If people "throw them out" then the lead paint will sit in a landfill

and eventually leech into the groundwater.

Or much worse, somebody could go through your garbage cans and give those "perfectly good - almost new" toys to some other child who would chip the lead paint off with their little new teeth...

edit: groundwater not groudwater doh!

[AspenRose]

35. Even though I don't have any of the recalled toys

I didn't want to take any chances. I just got my 2.5 year old a Fisher Price Doctor's Kit Tuesday (mommy is pregnant and goes to the doctor a lot, so he mimics at home what he sees the doctor doing in his office....blood pressure, checking fetal heartbeat) and checked last night to see if there was anything with paint on it. The tip of the toy thermometer was painted, and made in China. The rest of the kit is plastic.

I've hidden the thermometer away....

Lesson learned. Most of his toys are wooden things like puzzles and stackable rings, or those paper bricks you stack and knock down; but I've learned my lesson. No more stuff from China, I don't care WHAT it is.

[malmapus]

36. Already had to take away / return a load of my daughers Thomas the Tank Engine toys

Now another list comes out, sounds like same thing too. The red paint they use, in the Thomas case it was the red / yellow paint they were using. From what I've been seeing from this recall it's mostly red items as well.

[here_is_to_hope]

37. "cheap chinese plastic crap"...thats what my

daughter calls it..especially when grandma takes her to Wally World and tries to buy her some of it...
My daughter points out that she has a piggy bank and it would be better to put the money grandma would spend on this "stuff" in it.
It almost works all the time...
She grew up hearing the phrase whenever some toy would break or not work after ten minutes of playtime.
She understands whats going on with these toys and always asks for "country of origin", gotta lover her awareness at only 4 years old!

[Klukie]

39. Okay...

so I just checked out the Fisher Price site to get a visual of the toys that are being recalled. It turns out that my kids have quite a few of these toys, however, the recall is only for those made from may until august of this year. So now what? Do I trust that the ones I have are safe?

[MissB]

40. Well, to make yourself feel better you could go get one of those lead test kits.

Most hardware stores will have them. Lowes or Home Depot should as well.

It could be that they've only tested the recent ones. If they aren't saying specifically that the older ones are okay, I wouldn't trust them to be played with.

[yardwork]

45. How long have we known that lead causes brain damage in children?

How long has the stuff been banned? Why are we still having to put up with this? Why are children still being poisoned??!!

[Bridget Burke]

46. The phrase I heard on this morning's news was "Excessive Lead Paint"

The cat was frightened by my loud "EXCESSIVE?" Why the Frell is any lead paint allowed?

(And I'm worried for the Chinese kids, too. Not just the ones who probably work in the toy factories.)

[yardwork]

47. Exactly! Why was their lead in gasoline until the 1980s???!!!

Why is lead used for anything other than controlled substances. It's insane.