The Chicago Tribune's investigative reporting staff stays busy uncovering public safety issues...as in this December Chicago Tribune article about magnetic jewelry marketed to our small children:
Some magnetic earrings targeted to pre-teens by Claire's Stores and others
Earrings shaped like baby ducks which use magnets having a strong flux density
Expert: Earrings marketed to kids 'fall through the cracks'
By Maurice Possley | Tribune staff reporter
December 20, 2007
The federal government brands magnets in toys a deadly hazard to children because the tiny, powerful objects can fall out and cause serious, even fatal, internal injuries when swallowed. Yet the Consumer Product Safety Commission has not taken steps to regulate even more powerful magnets when they are sold in loose form as backings on children's earrings, the Tribune has found.
The earrings consist of a small decorative part -- such as a cupcake, a faux diamond, a dolphin -- with a magnet inside. They are held in place by putting a loose magnet behind the earlobe. Independent tests of more than a dozen magnetic earrings done for the Tribune showed that the earring magnets all were at least as powerful as magnets found inside toys that have caused the death of one child and scores of other injuries. Some of the magnetic earrings were more than five times more powerful. But because the earrings are not considered toys, new regulations for magnets do not apply. If they did, the jewelry could not be legally sold, according to a CPSC spokesman, Scott Wolfson.
The Tribune found reports of more than two dozen instances in the U.S. and Europe in recent years where magnets from earrings have been swallowed, aspirated into the lungs or become stuck together on either side of a child's nose cartilage. Those youngsters had used the earrings to mimic nose, tongue and even navel piercings. Most of these injuries did not result in hospitalizations. But, given the precedent of serious injuries caused by magnets in toys, some leading physicians are wondering why the CPSC is not taking action anyway.
"It's clear what the risks of magnets are," said Dr. Garry Gardner, a physician from suburban Darien who is chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on injury, violence and poison prevention. "I don't care whether they call it a toy or not, these are still a risk. Any magnet that can be aspirated or swallowed is dangerous."
...The new standard does not apply to magnetic jewelry, even if it is marketed to children.
...Complaints to the CPSC about magnetic jewelry include one incident that sent a 2-year-old boy to the hospital after swallowing a magnetic earring. Other incidents involved boys and girls ranging from 8 to 13 years old. One 13-year-old boy used magnet jewelry to mimic a tongue piercing and swallowed the magnet. A 13-year-old girl "sniffed magnet earring backs into nose," according to the agency's database.
Dangerous inside nose
Dr. Anthony Magit, a pediatric otolaryngologist in California, described how quickly a child can be injured. "The magnets are fairly strong and instead of just holding the earrings on the outside of both sides of the nose, they pull together and get embedded in the septum and they can't get them out," he said. "It can happen in a day. The magnets burrow into the septum and cannot be pulled apart. They are so strong, you have to take them to the hospital to get them removed. "There needs to be a warning."
Last August, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tagged toys with potentially loose powerful magnets as the No. 1 "hidden home hazard" in America. The magnets, when they fall from toys, are small enough to be swallowed by curious tots. They're dangerous enough to subsequently connect through layers of body tissue, rip through intestines like a gunshot, and cause severe injury or death. And stray magnets can be difficult for even vigilant parents to spot on a carpet.
All of this was confirmed in the story of 20-month-old Kenny Sweet Jr., the Seattle-area boy who died after swallowing aspirin-size magnets that had fallen loose from older brother Ben's Magnetix building toys set.
After the May 2007 chronicle of Kenny's death by Tribune reporter Patricia Callahan, toymaker Mega Brands announced that it was clearing store shelves of all but the newest models of Magnetix kits.
But according to the CPSC, Mega Brands had violated an April 2007 recall agreement with the CPSC by relabeling older sets of Magnetix toys. That made it appear as if they were the safest version, even though the CPSC insisted those sets be included in the recall. The CPSC also said the company gave stores confusing directions on which sets were covered by the recall. The Tribune reported Monday that the company had indications that other magnet toys in its lineup—Magna Man action figures, and Magnetix Jr. and Magtastik preschool toys—also were expelling loose magnets.
This week, more than a year after it first learned that magnets were coming loose from these products, Mega Brands issued yet another massive recall, this one covering 2.4 million toys. On offer for consumers: replacement sets—some of which would replace the replacement sets the company had distributed in previous recalls.
What took so long? Negotiations between the company and the CPSC over details of the latest recall. Under current statute, the CPSC has no easy way to order a recall without negotiating every word with the company involved. This despite the fact that there were 44 reports of magnets falling loose from the most recently recalled toys. One child had to have a stray magnet removed from his nasal cavity. Another had a magnet retrieved from his mouth.
Company spokesman Harold Chizick told the Tribune the delay was due to the company's desire to get things right. Initially, Mega Brands wanted to recall only certain pieces from its toy kits. Ultimately, the company decided to recall entire sets. "We wanted to avoid confusion," Chizick said. "Telling the consumer that certain parts were good and certain parts needed to be returned, it was just too confusing."
Why was a part-by-part recall even up for debate? Chizick's comment about that being "just too confusing" is correct but obvious.
The Tribune's series also has prompted a closer look at the CPSC, a sometimes-muzzled watchdog, by federal lawmakers and consumers alike.
Both houses of Congress have passed bills that would reform the CPSC by increasing its funding and staffing. Next stop: a Capitol Hill conference committee.
Our belief is that the final bill must include creation of a public Internet database, where citizens can search for information about potentially dangerous products. The Senate bill calls for such a database; the House bill calls merely for studying the issue. That's not enough. As the Magnetix case shows, while known problems linger, children remain in danger.
A CPSC that can't alert parents to dangerous products—or even make public consumer complaints about a potentially dangerous product—needs to be overhauled.
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.
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.
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!
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:
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.
World Against Toys Causing Harm [W.A.T.C.H.] has released the list around the holidays for 35 years, but this year it came amid a rash of recent recalls, particularly of toys made in China.
Among the toys identified as hazardous were Sticky Stones - magnetized stones that, if swallowed, could stick together inside a child's stomach...
WATCH officials said the list showed that the undermanned U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates the toy industry, doesn't do enough to ensure that toy makers sell safe toys and the industry has failed to police itself. "Why are toys being made with known toxins?" said attorney Joan Siff of WATCH. "The best interests of children need to be put before the best interests of toy companies."
Julie Vallese, spokeswoman for the safety commission, called WATCH's claims insulting, citing a 50 percent rise in the number of recalled toys this year - from 40 in 2006, to 61 in 2007 - that resulted from a commitment to tougher inspections. "Toys that are for sale right now have gone through more investigation and more scrutiny than any year past," Vallese said.
Joan Lawrence of the Toy Industry Association questioned the usefulness of WATCH's list, saying such lists often lack context about who the toy is aimed at and how it should be used. "In general, the products are safe as intended to be used," she said.
The toy industry has been hit by a series of recalls, including earlier this year when America's Mattel Inc recalled more than 21 million Chinese-made toys worldwide because of concerns about lead paint and tiny detachable magnets.
Hmmm...Toy Industry Association: Do you really think the toy Sticky Stones with powerful loose magnets sold on Amazon.com and by other national retailers, is safe for the pre-schoolers they are intended to be used by? Personally, I wouldn't buy ANY toy with swallowable powerful magnets since young children might come across them in the home. According to the CPSC:
Yes, believe it or not, tiny magnets can reconnect together from one part of the intestine to another, and cause a life-threatinging abdominal infection. Scan this frightening CDC study of 20 serious injuries and 1 death in children age 0-11 from swallowing magnets in toys. Maybe if you read it, you'll decide NOT to give your child any magnetic toys this Christmas. Just say NO to Magnetix, magnetic Polly Pocket, and Sticky Stones! Why not go back to good-ole made-in-the-USA wooden toys this holiday shopping season!
Mega Brands US$11M Q3 loss prompts shares to fall by one-third to new low
MONTREAL - Jittery investors dealt Mega Brands Inc. (TSX:MB) its most serious financial blow Friday sending shares to an all-time low after the company said it was closing a New Jersey factory and had lost US$11 million in the third quarter.
...One child died and four were seriously injured when they swallowed tiny magnets from the Magnetix building sets. The company was forced to recall more than seven million sets....
Lead Paint in MEGA Bloks?
So if you are a shareholder who invested in Mega Brands publicly traded stock, you may have just lost a lot of money. And the news just keeps getting worse for the Mega-toy company MEGA Brands. In addition to the serious dangers of magnets in Magnetix toys that have been recalled twice due to numerous injuries and one tragic death, Mega Brands has now been linked to the China lead paint scandal: an independent lab testing company in Canada hired by the consumer magazine Protégez-Vous found high levels of lead (according to the New York Times article) in two yellow blocks from a Maxi System plastic block toy set marketed for children age 0-3 by Mega Brands. We all know babies and toddlers like to put toys in their mouth! Ingestion of lead, or lead poisoning, has been linked to mental retardation, attention problems and learning disabilities.
In this CBS video, Nancy Nord explains why she won't resign as Chairman of the CPSC despite calls for her to quit after she rejects a funding proposal bill from the US Senate and despite the public's perception that a gentleman known only as "Bob" is the only employee assigned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to test toys sold to our country's children. Here is a picture from CSPAN of the CPSC test facility.
CARS backpack
The most recent recall of magnetic toys came October 23rd when a children's backpack featuring the characters from the movie "Cars" was recalled because it contained a magnetic toy in which the magnets have been found to come loose. Target Stores and Global Design Concepts, the manufacturer, are voluntarily participating in the recall.
Magnets Can Kill A Seattle woman known as Product Safety Mom spreads the word about the dangers of magnetic toys that can harm or kill children. This is a space to share with everyone who is around children: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and childcare professionals.
In this July, 2007 explanatory Fact Sheet, the CPSC illustrates the identifying marks that can help parents determine exactly which Magnetix sets (recalled March, 2006 and April, 2007) have been deemed dangerous and should immediately be taken away from your children.
A Consumer’s Guide to the Magnetix Building Set Recall
MEGA Brands Inc., of Montreal (Quebec) Canada and the staff of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have developed the following guide to assist consumers in identifying Magnetix building sets that have been recalled. Please review the information below carefully and if you determine that you have a recalled Magnetix set, stop using it immediately. You can contact the company to receive a replacement toy that is much safer for your children to use. Loose magnets can cause severe injuries or death, if swallowed. If more than one magnet is swallowed, they can attract to each other inside the intestines and cause perforations and/or blockage, which can be fatal if not treated immediately. If you no longer have the box that your Magnetix set came in, look closely at the rods included in your set(s). Disregard the color of the rod – it is not an indicator as to recall status.
If you have the box that your set came in, look for a magnet “CAUTION” label (not to be confused with the small parts “WARNING” label, which is also on the box.)
Even if you have newer Magnetix sets that are not subject to recall, be on guard against the possibility of magnets falling out.
• Children under six should not be playing with these sets. • Make sure your children know about the hazard of swallowing magnets. • Have them use a play area where any magnets that fall out can be found easily and swept up so that younger children do not swallow them. • Loose magnets should be taken away from children immediately.
Report incidents of loose magnets to the CPSC Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or to the CPSC Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
NOTEBOOK You're Not the Regulator of Me By Marla Felcher
China get the blame for this year's wave of recalls - but American industry has been working for years to gut government safety standards.
"...the Chicago Tribune reported on a Seattle toddler who had died on Thanksgiving Day, 2005, after swallowing tiny magnets that had spilled from a broken Magnetix building set. The commission had been warned about the hazard of magnetic toys years earlier and failed to act: Just six months before the toddler's death, an Indiana preschool teacher had called to report that one of her students had nearly died when the Magnetix bits he swallowed perforated his bowels."
"It wasn't until the following year that CPSC finally recalled the Magnetix sets; its press release reassured consumers that only old sets were problematic, when in fact the hazardous sets were still being sold (and stayed on shelves for another year). This past April the commission - having now received reports of 29 Magnetix-related injuries, all but one of which had required surgery-expanded the recall to include 4 million more units. (The recall press release, negotiated with the company's lawyers, was so vague, the CPSC had to issue a separate fact sheet later to tell parents which sets were safe to buy and which were not.)"
Also highlighted in the article is the October 2006 near-strangulation of another Seattle-area boy, this time a 5-year old who received a Yo-Yo water ball toy with a long flexible handle (likely imported from China and Taiwan) in his "goody bag" while attending a birthday party. The CPSC has now received over 416 incidents involving the potentially deadly yo-yo balls, but unlike France, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia refuses to ban the balls. Despite eventually receiving 290 reports about the Yo-Yo trinkets that the Consumer Product Safety Commission classified as strangulation/suffocation, the CPSC stands by its earlier statement, after performing an in-depth investigation, that the balls posed "a low risk of strangulation" when "the stretchy cord of the toy can wrap around a child's neck when the child swings the toy overhead like a lasso". However, the CPSC acknowledged that the quick action needed by an older person to remove the tight noose from the child's neck and "broken blood vessels affecting eyes, eyelids, cheeks, neck, scalp or the area behind the ears" could be "uncomfortable and anxiety-provoking" for children and adults.
Other dangerous toys mentioned in the article by Mother Jones, an independent, non-profit magazine founded in 1976 that aims for "smart, fearless journalism" include:
Thomas the Tank Engine trains manufactured by RC2 Corp., coated in lead paint
Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street toys also tainted with lead paint
Playskool sippy cups whose spouts broke off and caused toddlers to choke
Adult-sized all-terrain vehicled marketed to kids (ATVs) linked to 400 children's deaths
Zenith projection TVs that caught fire and killed two children
Daisy BB guns that play a sick game of "Russian roulette" with kids but were never recalled
Evenflo baby carriers where the hard handles unexpectedly unlatched, allowing hundreds of infants to fall to the floor while parents carried them in car seats
Hasbro Easy-Bake ovens which caused burns and can sever fingers
The Mother Jones article, critical of the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, concludes with a quote from former CPSC Commissioner Ann Brown: "CPSC got caught with their pants down about China". "Companies know the agency is toothless, so there's no reason for them to worry about the products that they bring into the country."
It is great that toy safety is finally getting more attention on National TV. Unfortunately, members of the media don't quite get it. Just check out these clips. Many times they focus on lead paint and low quality manufacturing in China and don't bring up the OTHER PART of these gigantic but inexplicably delayed recalls - the dangers to our children of improperly designed magnetic toys!
More bad news: Lead paint and tiny magnets prompt Mattel to recall millions of products BY JOHNNY DODD, PEOPLE MAGAZINE, September 3, 2007
RECALLED
Some Polly Pocket play sets have tiny magnets that kids can swallow. (photo of Quick Clik Polly World Dress and Drive Lounge)
Magnets have broken off Mattel's Batman toys in 21 cases, but no injuries have been reported. (pictured: Batman action figure)
A child dies from injuries caused by magnets in Magnetix building sets. (picture of Magnetix links and rods, with steel balls)
Lead paint in Thomas the Tank Engine toys may cause brain damage if ingested by children. (image of Red James Engine & Red James' # 5 Coal Tender)
LaVina Bowman's then-6-year-old son Devlin stumbled into her room with a terrible stomachache. She figured it was something the boy had eaten. But 18 hours later, surgeons cut open his abdomen and found the problem: two tiny, but powerful, magnets that Devlin swallowed after they fell out of his sister's Polly Pocket play set. Drawn together by magnetic attraction once inside his body, the toy fragments perforated his intestines, which leaked bacteria. "He nearly dies." recalls Bowman.
Citing cases like Devlin's, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Aug. 14 a recall of 9 million toys produced by Mattel, including Polly Pocket dolls, Barbies and a die-cast toy car inspired by the movie Cars. "The hazards," says agency spokesman Ed Kang, "are twofold: lead paint that can cause serious problems if ingested, and tiny, powerful magnets that can pinch or perforate intestines if swallowed."
This was just the latest bad news (see box) about toys, especially those made in China, where oversight is limited. What's a parent to do? Toys made in the U.S. may be safet but tend to cost more and can be hard to find. For more information about safety, go to the Internet, says toy-safety blogger ... magnetscankill.spaces.live.com: "Parents really have to watch out for themselves."
"...so troubled by the toddler's death that she became an amateur quality-control cop. Filming her own children playing with a variety of Magnetix toys, shehas 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. Two of her children noticed that a magnet fell out of the neck of the action figure within minutes of opening the package."
**The Universal Video above has been viewed 31,000 times so far on Youtube**
Important news you need to know now...click each item below for more details
Polly Pocket! Polly Place
Gameroom Garage Playset
Batman Magna Battle Armor Batman Figure
THIS ENORMOUS MATTEL PRODUCT RECALL SHOULD NOT BE A DEBATE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO BUY TOYS "MADE IN CHINA". THE AUGUST 14TH RECALL ANNOUNCEMENT IS ALL ABOUT TOYS DESIGNED WITH DANGEROUS LOOSE MAGNETS BEING MARKETED FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.
"Mattel, in cooperation with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is voluntarily recalling a number of Polly Pocket!, Batman Magna, Doggie Daycare, and Shonen Jump's One Piece playsets containing small powerful magnets. The magnets inside these dolls and accessories can fall out -- undetected to parents and caregivers. These magnets can be swallowed or aspirated by young children or placed by a child in their nose or ears. When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract to each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage, which can be fatal. Aspiration to the lungs requires immediate surgery. Magnets placed in the nose or ears can cause swelling and be difficult to remove. Please check your home, play areas and toys for any loose or liberated magnets. Remove these from the reach of children and discontinue use of magnetic playsets matching these descriptions until you have determined if yours are affected."
The website tool is intended to e-mail consumers a brochure so they can identify if their toys are recalled, and e-mail you a prepaid mailing label to return the "Mattel Playsets with Magnet Hazard - Recall Returns Form" and any or all of the affected product you have in your home. Upon receiving your package, Mattel will issue a replacement product voucher in 8-12 weeks that you can use to buy any new Mattel or Fisher-Price toy of similar value from a national retailer. If you don't want to use the internet and your e-mail address for the return process, just call Mattel's toll-free phone number at
888-597-6597
"...Additionally, Mattel is voluntarily recalling certain toys with magnets manufactured between January 2002 and January 31, 2007 that may release small, powerful magnets. The recall expands upon Mattel’s voluntary recall of eight toys in November 2006 and is based on a thorough internal review of all of our brands that have toys with magnets, and analyzed the ways in which magnets come loose. Since January 2007, all magnets used in our toys have been “locked” into the toy with sturdy material holding in the edges around the exposed face of the magnet or completely covering the magnet. We now believe it is prudent to recall our older toys with magnets that do not meet our latest retention system requirements. The safety of children is our main concern, and we are confident that our new requirements work, based on our continued testing and consumer experience. The risk if magnets are swallowed is serious, and we believe all of our toys with magnets should have the safety benefit of our new standards."
Back in March, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission fined Fisher-Price (a division of Mattel, Inc.) almost $1 million for failing, for several months, to report a different type of safety issue (a choking hazard from a nail coming loose from the Little People Animal Farms Sounds toy). Now that they have found their gumption, will the agency push forward with fines on other toy manufacturers who have delayed or withheld safety information that they were required by law to immediately report to the oversight group?
What's the big deal about those small, powerful, amazing magnets? Well, the unintended consequence is that tiny dangerous magnets have fallen out of many models of the new breed of magnetic toys released in the last 4 years. Rare earth magnets produced inexpensively in China are the most powerful on this planet. Sometimes they pop right out as soon as you pull the toy out of the box, and sometimes they come off due to normal play - kids attaching and detaching the magnetic parts together as intended, or it gets dropped, stepped on, or the child curiously puts it in their mouth.
In some cases the NIB (Neodymium Iron Boron) magnets were swallowed or inhaled by children from toddler to pre-teen age, resulting in many documented intestinal injuries, the tragic death of toddler Kenny Sweet, Jr., several lawsuits and many "confidential legal settlements". Magnets attracted TO EACH OTHER or to a swallowed metal ball ACROSS BODILY TISSUE such as intestines, lungs and nasal passages, twisting and perforating children's internal organs while their parents thought their youngsters merely had "the flu".
Yes, it's true that all the above recalled toys and Magnetix products by MEGA Brands (previously subject to two large consumer recalls) were "MADE IN CHINA". But the reason for these product defects endangering our youth IS NOT only due to possible sloppy production and lack of local regulation in China. Rather, these problems are mainly a result of POOR DESIGN, QUESTIONABLE ENGINEERING, and TURNING A BLIND EYE TO SAFETY RED FLAGS by US and Canadian manufacturers.
You may also ask, why are these recalls spurred by the CPSC coming so late? Mattel says the affected products were produced before January 2007. Wait a minute - Doggie Daycare has been on the market since 2004! Didn't the company that describes itself as "one of the most trusted names with parents" know about magnets falling out due to consumer reports or product testing before NOW? Secondly, some of these dozens of toy models were released by Mattel AFTER the firm agreed in November 2006 to recall eight specific Polly Pocket models due to magnets releasing easily. For example:
TIMELINE November 13, 2006 - Mattel issues a press release announcing the upcoming release of: Pollyworld Rockin' Theme Park Playset, Pollyworld Dress & Drive Lounge, PollyWorld Limo-Scene Vehicle, PollyWorld Dial-A-Song Assortment, and PollyWorld Park Pals Assortment. They appear to have the same magnet housing as the Polly Pocket toys that are voluntarily recalled one week later.
August 14, 2007 - 4 of the 5 magnetic Polly Pocket products announced in November 2006 are recalled: J1681 Polly Pocket! Pollyworld Rockin' Theme Park Playset, J1687 Polly Pocket! Pollyworld Dress N' Drive Lounge Playset, J1659 Polly Pocket! Pollywood Limo-Scene Vehicle, J9965 Pollyworld Dial a Song Polly Fashions, J9966 Pollyworld Dial a Song Polly Fashions
Simple question: If Mattel knew the toys had the same potential for falling apart as models that they received 170 reports from consumers about, why didn't they just CANCEL the rollout?
Is it true that these huge toy companies knew for years that magnets were easily dislodged from these types of toys? Did they know for years that several children (now, shockingly, over 27) have experienced life-threatening intestinal perforations from detached magnets? It looks like the answer is...YES! Case in point: even after Kenneth Sweet's tragic death in November, 2005, Mega Bloks continued to design new magnetic toys, most of which ended up being recalled in March 2006 and April 2007. Look no further for the motivation to "Keep on Selling" than the greed of North American enterprise.
Mattel (El Segundo, California - NYSE:MAT) and MEGA Brands (of Montreal, Canada who continued coming up with new Magnetix and Magna-xxx toys after acquiring Rose Art Industries of Livingston, NJ) could have simply stopped producing these toys and voluntarily recalled them months if not years ago. Is it a basic human need for youngsters to have a huge choice of magnetic toys with tiny parts to bring into their home? I don't think so. Do you feel confident that the Magnetix building sets and Polly Pocket magnetic toys CURRENTLY available for sale and which the companies say are improved and "safe" do not have similar engineering or production quality problems? Take a stand against magnetic toys for your precious little ones. Don't buy toys with powerful magnets, don't give them as birthday, Christmas or holiday gifts, don't let your kids play with them, don't donate them or sell them at a garage sale! JUST SAY NO. This latest saga tends to show that you can't trust toy conglomerates to put your family's safety above the toys they choose to invent and market.
How can you tell if a toy contains powerful neodymium magnets (typically small cylindrical magnets which can pop out of toys if not secured very well with a lip)? First, go to http://cpsc.gov and review the model names included in the 2006 and 2007 recalls of magnetic toys. Second, you can get a good idea if the name of the product includes "Magnetic" "Mag" "Magna" "Quik Clik" or "Quick Clik". Thirdly, the manufacturer may have voluntarily added a label on the outside of the package which discloses that it contains magnets and that swallowing magnets can lead to death. Finally, ASTM International has finalized new production rules and labeling requirements that were published in May and will be phased in over the next 2 years. That's not enough of a BRIGHT LINE for you? We hear your frustration. In the meantime LET THE BUYER BEWARE. When you are going through your child's toy box or shopping, try to determine if the toy has magnetic properties. If you find anything more powerful than a large flat refrigerator magnet, be very careful.
Does the recall of 9.5 million Mattel magnetic toys (18.2 million globally) have anything to do with lead paint? No, nothing, except that the recalls of Polly Pocket and other magnetic toys due to loose magnets were mysteriously and conveniently announced at the same time as a smaller recall of 200k Mattel die-cast toys (Sarge from the movie Cars). The media outlets have been focused on the trade with China issue since the tainted pet food and toothpaste, as well as toys painted with lead-based paint. The lead in the paint of toys like Thomas the Tank Engine and Fisher-Price's Dora the Explorer imported from China is definitely inexcusable, and children who mouth toys with lead paint and ingest significant amounts are at risk for lead poisoning. But that is a completely separate issue from the recall of magnetic Polly Pocket, Doggie Daycare, Barbie and Tanner, Batman and One Piece action figure toys. Defective magnetic toys marketed to boys and girls pose risks of severe internal injuries and the the media should shine a bright spotlight on this unique risk.
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