Recalled toys, children's items reached record this year
A record 44.5 million children's items were recalled this year, including many that might still be in people's homes, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Monday while releasing her annual “Play it Safe” guide to recalls for toys and other children's products.
The 87-page guide, including details on 147 government-issued recalls concerning 613 products, is available as a download at illinoisattorneygeneral.gov or through the mail by calling the Attorney General's Recall Hotline toll-free at (888) 414-7678.
Listed products include Nike Bauer hockey sticks with lead paint, “Shrek” giveaway glasses from McDonald's containing high amounts of cadmium, a three-piece baby Santa suit with loose buttons that create a choking hazard and dozens of cribs and strollers that have proved to be unsafe.
According to Madigan. although stricter federal laws have led to reduced recalls in recent years, the actual number of items affected reached a record this year.
“I think this is the largest number we've ever seen,” Madigan said in a news conference at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. She added that the actual number of items affected was double last year's figure and more than the 44 million counted in the first “Play it Safe” guide three years ago. There were 12 million recalled items alone from the Fisher-Price company.
“That's a dizzying number,” Madigan said. “It's very, very hard for anybody to keep up with that.”
Thus, the “Play it Safe” guide, which she said was one of three key steps parents and others buying children's products can take to protect their kids. She also advised consumers to sign up for instant e-mail notification of recalls, at the website recalls.gov, and to mail in federally mandated response slips included with many children's products to get recall notices directly from manufacturers.
Madigan added that it is essential for consumers to be vigilant, especially with high-end items like cribs and strollers that tend to be passed on from family to family or even generation to generation.
One of the items recalled this year, for instance, was a swing set manufactured by Kompan, Inc., and Big Toys, Inc., and sold for 10 years starting in 1998. It turned out to have a defective connection between the horizontal bar holding the swings and the side brackets supporting it on the ground.
Nancy Cowles, executive director of the Chicago-based Kids in Danger watchdog group, cheered Madigan's efforts and the annual guide, saying, “We really are a model for the rest of the nation because of the work that's done here.”
Cowles said parents should be wary of anything bearing an item that can fit through a toilet-paper tube and that therefore creates a choking hazard. She added that button-cell batteries and magnets are especially dangerous if ingested.
A recent study released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found there were 186,000 injuries to children requiring emergency-room visits in 2009, up from the previous year.