500K Toys Recalled Over Lead

Levels above legal limit in China-made bookmarks, blocks, key chains

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 4, 2007 3:19 PM CDT

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500K Toys Recalled Over Lead — Linda Root, laboratory manager at Specialized Technology Resources, Inc., uses a razor blade to demonstrate a paint removal technique on a toy car at the laboratory, in Enfield, Conn., Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. Paint removed from the toys using this method is then tested in the lab for possible dangerous... (Associated Press)

Over half a million Chinese-made toys have been recalled due to dangerous lead levels, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today. Toys ranging from Winnie the Pooh bookmarks to Baby Einstein color blocks were found to contain levels above the .06% legal limit, Reuters reports. 192,000 dollar-store key chains were also on the recall list - not for children, but still unsafe.

The decision comes as the CPSC head was to appear at a Senate hearing over agency reforms. It follows a summer in which toy- industry behemoths pulled products with high lead levels off store shelves. But "a lot of what is being recalled is because it violates the law, not that there is an imminent health risk," one official said. (More Chinese toys stories.)

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