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US consumer group finds more toys with lead

29 Oct 2007 18:11:25 GMT
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Dishes, toys, jewelry and backpacks that have not yet been recalled all carried "worrisome" levels of lead, the nonprofit Consumers Union said on Monday.

The group's Consumer Reports magazine staff recommended that people immediately stop using the products tested.

"Our lab tests detected lead at widely varying levels in samples of dishware, jewelry, glue stick caps, vinyl backpacks, children's ceramic tea sets and other toys and items not on any federal recall list," the group wrote in a magazine report.

It said the items were not included in recent recalls, although some were included in last week's recall of 665,000 products announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, including Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boats from Mattel Inc's <MAT.N> Fisher-Price division.

More than 20 million toys made in China have been recalled worldwide over the past four months due to potentially dangerous levels of lead and hazards posed by small magnets that can be swallowed.

Retailers and manufacturers have stepped up product testing, as high levels of lead can cause brain damage in children.

"We screened products from stores and consumers' homes in the New York metropolitan area using home lead testing kits and an X-ray fluorescence analyzer," the magazine article reads.

Consumers Union said some of the products it tested included a Fisher-Price blood pressure cuff from a toy medical kit, caps from seven Elmer's Glue Sticks and some duck-shaped backpacks.

"We detected the highest concentration of total lead, more than 10,000 parts per million, in a cuff that a child had regularly played with for the past two years," the group wrote.

"We focused on products made with materials more likely to contain lead, such as brightly painted items, on which lead is used as an inexpensive pigment," it said.

The group said it also found lead in products that were unlikely to leach lead, even when chewed on by children, which raised less concern.

"There is no federal standard for lead in plastics, but the amount of lead detected in the glue stick caps was more than three times the 600 parts per million allowable for paint in the United States," the article reads.

"If you own those items, Consumers Union recommends that you remove them from use."

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Last updated:Mon Oct 29 18:10:07 2007