Yet another toy recall…

Current Mood:

CNN Article: Millions of toys recalled; contain ‘date rape’ drug

I just can not believe we have yet another toy recall. Toys recalled this year have included many things from Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine to Baby Einstein and Polly Pocket. Winnie the Pooh, Big Bird, Diego, and Dora are not safe either. Now being recalled are Aqua Dots. Thankfully few of the recalls have affected us, but that’s only because in the last year I’ve been really pushing to ditch the plastic and have only quality wooden toys. Kayla still has her Polly Pockets (a few of which has been on the recall lists) and Littlest Pet Shops. We also have American Girl dolls as well as a token Barbie or two and Breyer model horses. OK… maybe we still have a ways to go before really minimizing the China-made toys. But I refuse to buy from any company from now on that does not have strict policies on how their toys are made.

Mattel and Fisher Price are two such companies. Many believe these toy recalls are due to a number of reasons, including lax regulations, cheap labor, and no oversight within these factories.

Frankly, I’d like to boycott all items made in China but just how practical is that? Look around you… probably 80% or more of everything we use and own comes out of China. Recalls have included poisoned pet food, seafood laced with potentially dangerous antibiotics, cribs and tires missing key safety components, and toothpaste tainted with an ingredient in antifreeze. What’s a family to do when so much of our product is made overseas?

Even our favorite German toy companies have some of their product line made in China as well - HABA, Schleich, Melissa & Doug, etc.

HABA’s official statement to their sales reps:

Please rest assured your products are safe! Haba prides itself in taking extra steps for product safety and quality.

Our wood items, with the exception of the Master Builders which have no finish, are still made in Germany. Our clothe items are made elsewhere. BUT if an item has a wooden component-such as the pieces in the jewelry-that wood is still processed in Germany and then sent elsewhere for assembly.

If Haba uses an ‘overseas’ factory, it is specially certified for quality and safety-by European standards. To make sure those standards are strictly followed, Haba also has a German based employee that spends the majority of his year in these factories. His job is to audit those factories for materials going into our products, who is making our products and the quality coming out.

All our products meet ASTM standards and all European standards-which are tougher than our own!

Thank you for your inquiry!!

Janet
HabaUSA

Other German companies had similar things to say such as that they “regularly test” their products [KidKraft], “hire independent and authorized laboratories to carry out regular tests regarding the materials, the paints used for our products and the finished toys (saliva and migration tests, for example, are performed by these laboratories)” [Schleich], and “AUDIT, INSPECT, AND TEST very frequently” [Melissa & Doug].

So, although I feel reasonably confident about buying products from these companies, I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on them, as well as continue to move my family away from the cheap plastic toys to the higher quality wooden and cloth ones.

Government recall website: http://cpsc.gov/