Product Recall News: Recalled Toys

November 2, 2006:

Various Firms Recall Flashing Pacifiers for Choking, Aspiration and Strangulation Hazards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firms named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Flashing Pacifiers

Hazard: These pacifiers failed to meet federal safety standards for pacifiers. The nipple can separate from the shield easily, posing a choking hazard. Some pacifiers were sold with necklaces that pose a strangulation hazard, and one of the necklaces has beads that can come loose, which poses an aspiration hazard. Though they are marketed for older children, they could be given to babies, and can cause serious injury or death.

For further details, click here.

RC2 Recalls Toy Keys Due to Choking Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Toy Keys

Hazard: The colored top portion of the keys can crack, resulting in the release of small parts, which poses a choking hazard to young children.

For further details, click here.

October 18, 2006:

Baby Cookie Monster Toys Sold with DVD at Wal-Mart Recalled for Choking Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Baby Cookie Monster Plush Toys

Hazard: The small felt fabric cookie attached to the plush toy’s hand can be removed easily and ingested by young children, posing a choking hazard.

For further details, click here.

September 22, 2006:

Playskool Voluntarily Recalls Toy Tool Benches after the Death of Two Toddlers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Playskool, of Pawtucket, R.I., is voluntarily recalling about 255,000 Team Talkin’ Tool Bench toys following the deaths of two young children.

Playskool received reports that a 19-month-old boy from Martinsburg, W.V., and a 2-year-old boy from League City, Texas, suffocated when oversized, plastic toy nails sold with the tool bench toys became forcefully lodged in their throats. Though the toy nails are not considered a small-part, and the toys are intended for children age 3 and older, Playskool is voluntarily conducting a recall as a precaution to prevent additional incidents.

The Team Talkin’ Tool Bench™ is a 20-inch tall plastic toy tool bench with an animated red toy saw, a yellow toy drill and a blue toy vice. The toy talks and makes various sound effects, including tool sounds. The product also includes a toy hammer, screwdriver, two 2¼-inch plastic screws, two 3-inch plastic nails and pieces to build a small toy plane. The red Playskool logo is on the front of the brown surface of the tool bench.

The toy was sold at Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target, KB Toys stores and various other stores nationwide from October 2005 through September 2006 for about $35.

Consumers should immediately take the two toy nails away from children and contact Playskool to get information on returning the nails for a $50 certificate for a Playskool (or its related companies’) product.

For further details, click here.

Reprinted with permission from www.cpsc.gov.