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Christmas Season: Marvel recalls Curious George dolls
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by Barry ORegan | November 9, 2007 at 06:11 am
1324 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments
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Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
With Christmas season fast approaching, and young children who have a propensity to place everything in their mouths, if it isn't GHB Date Rape Drug beads in "Aqua Dots" and other Toxic substances which find their way into Chinese made toys, it's lead that can be a silent killer passed on unnoticed for years as your child plays with their favourite toy.
It seems nowadays virtually anything coming out of China is going to harm or kill us slowly over our lifetime.
People looking to test toys or any non porous article from China (before sending it back to the manufacturer or store for a refund) can get a FREE "Ghost Wipe" from any analyitical laboratory in their city .
A Ghost wipe looks like a packaged moist towelette. Wearing a pair of latex or similar glove, you then thoroughly wipe down the entire toy or article, then placing the Ghost Wipe back into the package you submit it to the laboratory you got the Ghost Wipe from. Cost about $40.00 for Lab analysis.
A Ghost Wipe only contains non toxic deionized water and will tell you if Lead is present on the surface, but not the quantity of lead. If you wish to know the quantity of lead in any Lead suspected article you will have to submit the article to the lab for qualitative testing. This method is used more so if you are considering a lawsuit.
Ghost Wipes can be used to collect various metals on any surface such as Antimony,Beryllium,Cadmium, Chromium, Cobalt,Copper,Iron,Lead, Manganese,Molybdenum,Nickel,Vanadium,Zinc.
Most labs cannot test for Lead Chromate, but can test for Chromium in Lead.
For most purposes Parents should stick to common metals found in China made toys, such as Cadmium, Lead, Chromium to determine if Lead Chromate is present (Lead Chromate is extremely dangerous to life even in minute amounts).
When submitting your Ghost Wipe sample to a lab, ask for a metals analysis of the three metals above. Importantly you must specify what you want for analysis, then the lab will not know what to sample for.
Most labs will do an entire metals spectrum of every metal most common, such as Antimony,Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium,Cobalt,Copper,Iron,Lead,Manganese,Molybdenum, Nickel,Vanadium,Zinc.
Once you know what predominat metals are in your article or toy, you can submit the entire article to the lab for qualitative analysis if your considering a lawsuit.
My Final Thought
The best way to avoid all this is Don't Buy Chinese Products, give your friends or kids CD's, Video Games, Sweaters, or Cash.
New York-based Marvel Entertainment on Thursday announced a recall of Curious George dolls in Canada and the U.S. because they contain unsafe levels of lead."The safety of our consumers — especially children — is our top concern. We were deeply disturbed to learn of these results," said Joann McLaughlin of Marvel Toys in a release.
Four styles of Curious George dolls are being recalled because they contain unsafe lead levels.Four styles of Curious George dolls are being recalled because they contain unsafe lead levels.
(Marvel Entertainment)
In October, the advocacy group the Center for Environmental Health said independent testing showed the dolls contained 10 times the allowable amount of lead. In response, Marvel retested its line and found unsafe lead levels in its Birthday, Fireman, Sweet Dreams and Tool Time Curious George dolls.
The recall affects about 110,000 dolls, including about 6,000 sold in Canada, since 2005, according to the company.
High amounts of lead can harm the nervous system, kidneys and other major organs. Anemia, a decline in red blood cells, can occur, as well as damage to the nervous system that may impair mental function. At worst, lead poisoning can cause seizures or death.
In recent months, U.S. and Canadian officials have issued a series of recalls of made-in-China toys for safety problems involving lead levels and magnets.
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Barry ORegan
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 06:49 on November 9th, 2007
Thanks for posting this. A sad state of affairs when we have to run analytics on toys...
at 17:31 on November 9th, 2007
It's not just toys Jordan, I sampled a made in china mortar and pestle for lead and gawd damn if it was not 30% lead. A dollar story salt and pepper set when sampled was almost 80% lead.
Now wouldn't that make a nice herb grinder now. But wait, don't stop there, virtually all your glass ware and plates are made in china. Shall I continue? Best get some Ghost Wipes and give it a shot. Since I know ou are in Vancouver, head out to Burnaby to Cantest Analyitical Laboratories on Canada way, just a hop skip and par 5 from BCIT. It is worth to wipoe your plates cups and glasses for lead. Cost about 120 dollars , you only need one glas, one plate and one cup from each set, if one shows positive, then they all will.
My plates, glasses and cups are made from England and France, as well as my Creuset cookware, my cast iron pans are USA made, I tested them they are all less than detectable, or lead free.
Sooooooooooooo if your cookware is from Kmart, Walmart or other low cost stores, I would be a checkin. especially if your thinking one day of having kids. Lead will permanently destroy your sperm count faster than a vasectomy, most likely why some couples who are infertile, may well be the cookware and plates as the culprit. If you have kids, especially under 5 and not fully developed, lead will head straight to the organs, lymph nodes and Timmy and Britney, may not only suffer developmentally in school, but an early death as well.
I have been saying all this as a warning to the public and our Governments for years and year only for it to fall on deaf ears, soooooo I have now done my due diligence, so it is up to Now Public to pass it along to our readers. I have not bought anything from asia since the late 1980's as I am in the biz sampling and testing, I knew in advance what we are just finding out now. Too bad politicians grope for the almighty buck from manufacturers instead of listening to the public, and you wonder why I am anti NDP and Liberal,Trust me I have my reasons.