March 17, 2008 St. Patrick's Day news:

Watch the USA Today VIDEO now!

Chicago Tribune article highlights the significant new Mega Brands Inc. magnetic toy recall

Federal safety regulators recalled an additional 2.4 million potentially deadly Mega Brands magnetic toys Monday, at least 14 months after learning there might be problems with some of those products.

In December 2006, a consumer complained to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that magnets could come loose from Mega Brands Magna-Man action figures, one of the toys recalled, according to government records. And last May a Tribune report, which featured an account of a magnet popping out of one of those action figures, questioned whether the company's earlier Magnetix recalls covered all of the potentially hazardous toys in the line.

When the tiny, powerful magnets come loose and are swallowed, they can connect inside a child and rip through intestines.

Mega Brands had sent some of the toys recalled Monday to consumers as presumably safe replacements for Magnetix building sets recalled as a deadly hazard in 2006 and 2007.

Monday's recall comes as Mega Brands is beginning to phase out its Magnetix line and the industry is moving closer to a more stringent safety standard for magnetic toys. The guidelines being considered would not allow manufacturers to sell toys with magnetic parts small enough for a child to swallow. They also would require tougher tests for the remaining toys with powerful magnets.

In all, with Monday's action, more than 10 million Mega Brands products have been recalled for magnet hazards over the past two years. More than 12 million other toys with the tiny magnets also have been recalled.

Problems at agency

The Tribune investigation showed that the safety commission's failure to act promptly on reports of the deadly hazard was emblematic of how the docile and underfunded agency failed to protect children. Kenny Sweet, a suburban Seattle toddler, died, and dozens of other children suffered life-threatening intestinal injuries after swallowing aspirin-size magnets that came loose from Magnetix building sets.

The series prompted congressional hearings, which led to legislation that would overhaul the agency, known as the CPSC.

It was a friend of the Sweet family...who noticed problems with the Magna-Man figures after Kenny died. In December 2006, she told a CPSC investigator who came to her home that the toy had shed a magnet while her children played with it.  Records show the CPSC investigator sent...the broken toy to the agency's headquarters.  In addition, the Tribune report last May detailed how magnets fell out of a Sir Lancelot Magna-Man....

Mega Brands quietly discontinued Magna-Man in June, though a company spokesman said it had nothing to do with the Tribune report.

A CPSC spokeswoman declined to comment on when her agency first learned that magnets were coming loose from the toys. Asked why the agency didn't move faster, she said the CPSC needed to investigate the toys and negotiate the details of the recall while also dealing with demands from Congress. In addition, the agency was busy last summer with a record number of recalls related to lead paint in toys, according to the spokeswoman, Julie Vallese.

"The same people that would be investigating and working on toys with lead paint would be some of those same people that would have other parts of toy investigations as their responsibility," Vallese said.

The CPSC last August listed toys with loose, powerful magnets as the No. 1 "hidden home hazard."

Toys included in recall

The toys recalled Monday were 1.3 million Magna-Man action figures and 1.1 million preschool toys called Magnetix Jr. and Magtastik. In all, there were 44 reports of magnets coming loose from these toys.

The CPSC cited one injury and a close call with the preschool toys. A 3-year-old boy playing with the toys had to have a magnet removed from his nasal cavity, while an 18-month-old boy was caught with a magnet in his mouth before he had a chance to swallow it.

When it came to the preschool toys, Mega Brands initially wanted to recall only certain pieces in which the magnets were coming loose, while the CPSC wanted the entire product line to be recalled. Late last week, Mega Brands agreed, said company spokesman Harold Chizick.

"Given all the information we had, we wanted to take the most cautious approach to this as we could," Chizick said. "We wanted to avoid confusion. Telling the consumer that certain parts were good and certain parts needed to be returned, it was just too confusing."

He said neither product had gone through any design changes due to magnets coming loose.

Chizick declined to comment on when the company first learned that the magnets were popping out and declined to detail when the incidents with the 3-year-old or 18-month-old occurred. Consumers who own any of the toys are eligible to receive a free replacement toy from Mega Brands.

Mega Brands is phasing out Magnetix and plans to launch a new line of magnetic construction toys called MagNext this summer. In the new toys, which the company developed with the help of testing lab Intertek, the magnets are more tightly encased with a stronger plastic. The pieces are too large to be swallowed by a child.

The American Academy of Pediatrics last year suggested a ban on toys that contain magnetic pieces small enough for a child to swallow. But major toymakers opposed such a ban at that time.

A safety-standards panel made up largely of toy industry executives said last spring it would study the issue. Arthur Kazianis, the Hasbro executive who headed the group, said he and his competitors agreed to such a ban when more data emerged showing that children were injured by whole toy pieces as well as just magnets that had come loose from toys.

"The injuries are there," he said last month. "We need to do something."

Because such safety standards are built on consensus, the proposed toy standard must wind its way through a bureaucratic process before enactment.

The CPSC reform legislation passed by the Senate this month would make the voluntary toy safety guidelines mandatory. The Senate is ironing out a compromise with the House, which passed a reform bill that did not include such a provision.

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pcallahan@tribune.com
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HIDDEN HAZARDS
Find the Tribune investigation of dangerous toys at
http://chicagotribune.com/hazards

MagnaMan action figures recalled - 1.3 million sets

As reported on this blog and highlighted on the pages of the Chicago Tribune, the family who made the video above also found TWO Magnaman toys that they bought to be defective, with tiny powerful magnets popping out within minutes of opening the packages did not act until March 2008.

Filming her own children playing with a variety of Magnetix toys, she has documented numerous cases of them failing. In the latest incident, she said, magnets fell out of a Sir Lancelot Magna-Man action figure she bought in mid-February [2007]. Two of her children noticed that a magnet fell out of the neck of the action figure within minutes of opening the package.

Incidents/Injuries: MEGA Brands and CPSC have received 25 reports of magnets coming loose from the figures.

Magtastik, Magnimals and Magnetix Jr. juvenile toys recalled - 1.1 million units

Magtastik and Magnetix, Jr. are relatively new preschool toys designed by MEGA Brands specifically for children age 3 and up.  Many consumer advocates questioned whether the company whose design and production quality standards had already resulted in two worldwide recalls of millions of "Magnetix" building sets could be trusted to produce a safe toddler/preschool toy that contained the very same deadly magnets.  Now we have our answer!

Incidents/Injuries: MEGA Brands and CPSC have received 19 reports of magnets coming loose, including one report of a 3-year-old boy receiving medical treatment to remove a magnet from his nasal cavity and one report of an 18-month-old boy with a magnet in his mouth, which was not swallowed.

Toys still missing from the recall notices

Previous recalls issued by the CPSC in conjunction with Rose Art Industries and Mega Bloks/MEGA Brands included only toys carrying the name "Magnetix", although it was obvious to the layperson that the Magna Man sets, among other models, had the same magnetic action and content as the recalled Magnetix Extreme and Magnetix building sets containing rods, links, squares, triangles and metal balls.

A gaping hole remains in the almost universal recall of all MEGA Brands magnetic toys:  What about Mag Warrior and  Marvel magnetic action figures marketed by MEGA Brands which have a very similar design to their Magna-Man action figures? 

Also part of the gaping black hole - should these new magnetic toys from the same manufacturer also be recalled?  Magnabug, Magnasaur, Magnawheels, Magna Monster, Magnalogs, Magna Model, Magna Bones, Magnaformers?  For example:  would you trust that these magnetic toys are safe for your youngsters to play with?  Spheron Triple Car Launcher, Woolly Mammoth, Saber-Tooth Tiger, Woolly Rhino, T-Rex, Saber Tooth, Tri-Top, Pterodaktyl, Mantis Racer, Rocket Racer, Fighter Racer with Rocket Launcher, Mantic Racer with Rocket Launcher, Probe Racer with Gravity Launcher, Rocket Racer with Gravity Launcher, iCoaster, Spider-Man 3 Action Vehicle Set, Stegosaurus, Tyranno, Spider-Man 3 Venom, Spider-Man 3 Symbiote, Spider-Man 3 Jet Pack?  Why wait until dozens of incident reports come in and the CPSC takes action to recall these look-a-like models not included in the three official recalls?  Parents should carefully consider allowing their children to play with any MEGA Brands or Rose Art magnetic toy. 

Swallowing danger from Magnetix ball bearings

In another continuing tragic saga, the blog Play Library has a string started in March, 2006 that now tracks over 180 comments where parents have reported their children swallowing the metal ball contained in many Magnetix models.  Many of the writers have called for the removal of Magnetix products from store shelves on that basis alone.  Yes, it is legal to sell a toy that contains a metal ball if (1) the toy is marketed to children age 3 and over and (2) it contains a warning that it contains small parts or a small ball which can cause a choking hazard for children under age 3.  However, these particular Magnetix shiny balls have been so tempting for children of all ages that dozens of older children have needed trips to the doctor or emergency room, days or weeks of supervision and multiple x-rays to make sure that no magnets were swallowed and that the sphere(s) "come out the other end".  An example:

My 7 year old son came to me tonight and told me he swallowed that little silver ball!...I came on line to look it up and I cannot believe how long this has been happening and he only received this magnetix toy this past Christmas; it’s not off the shelves yet after all these incidents? That’s is just sad. Someone tell me what to do to get these toys off the shelves? I am calling my pediatrician in the morning.

Magnabild magnetic building sets recalled

Another magnetic building set, Magnabild, was recalled on March 13, 2008 and January 23, 2008 by the CPSC in cooperation with Battat Inc. of Plattsburg, NY.  Approximately 132,000 sets had been sold.