Toy Jewelry Recalled Over Lead Concerns
One of the largest consumer product recalls in U.S. history was issued Thursday as four companies agreed to stop importing toy jewelry from India because it contained toxic levels of lead, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The 150 million pieces of toy rings, necklaces and bracelets recalled were sold through vending machines in malls and in discount, department and grocery stores across the nation from January 2002 to last month. The jewelry, which cost 25 to 75 cents, came in various styles of rings, necklaces and bracelets. The commission is recommending that all the jewelry affected by the recall be thrown away.
Industry officials estimate that there are 2 million of the recalled pieces of toy jewelry left in vending machines.
The rings are colored gold or silver with different designs and paint finishes, some with center stones. The necklaces have pendants, crosses or geometrical designs or shapes. The bracelets include charm bracelets, bracelets with medallion links and bracelets with faux stones.
After testing jewelry samples nationwide, the commission found that about half contained dangerous amounts of lead that, if mouthed or ingested by children, could cause behavioral problems, learning disabilities, hearing problems and growth retardation.
“It’s CPSC policy that there should be no accessible lead in a child’s product, period,” spokesman Ken Giles said.
There have been no recent reports of children getting lead poisoning from toy jewelry. In September 2003, a boy in Oregon suffered liver problems after a toy necklace remained for weeks in his stomach, leaching lead into his system, Giles said.
That case resulted in a recall of all toy necklaces of that kind. In March, another recall was declared for certain toy rings from India also containing lead.
The commission then decided to look more closely at vending machine jewelry and test for lead, Giles said.
“We found it everywhere we looked,” commission Chairman Hal Stratton said. “That led us to believe that no matter what city you live in, this is a problem. Any vending of this ... jewelry is a problem.”
The four importers -- A&A; Global Industries Inc. of Cockeysville, Md.; Brand Imports of Scottsdale, Ariz.; Cardinal Distributing Co. of Baltimore; and L.M. Becker & Co. of Kimberly, Wis. -- supply almost all of the toy jewelry in vending machines.
They have agreed not to import any more until they and the commission agree on a formula to determine what amount of lead, if any, is considered safe to have in the products.
There is currently no government standard for levels of lead in toy jewelry, Stratton said. The four companies have also noted that there is no standard.
“We’ve always tested our products that come into the United States,” said Dax Logue of Brand Imports. “All the tests that we’ve done were actually through labs listed by the CPSC. Under that particular time period, the labs indicated to us that the products were safe.”
“We’ve listed labs on our website that we know have technical testing capabilities,” Giles conceded, “but we’re not their supervisors.”
Giles said the labs should have conducted a saline leach test, which mimics a person’s saliva, and an acid leach test, which imitates what happens to a product in a person’s stomach.
