Dec. 7, 2009 — There will be no recall for the well-liked Zhu Zhu Pets Hamsters pursuing a contested report that the toys contained “risky” stages of perhaps dangerous metals, an formal for the Purchaser Item Protection Fee told ABC News these days.
The formal stated the CPSC had identified that the toys meet all federal criteria for heavy metals and that the agency deemed them “harmless.”
The CSPC remark will come several hours right after the purchaser group that initially documented the toys’ dangers, GoodGuide, issued a “correction” in a press release and clarified that its screening system differed from that of the field typical.
“Whilst we accurately described the chemical degrees in toys that we calculated using our screening strategy, we need to not have in comparison our benefits to federal benchmarks,” the assertion stated. “We regret this error.”
The CSPC began investigating the lifestyle-like toy hamsters soon after GoodGuide posted on its Web site that one particular of the hamster sorts, Mr. Squiggles, contained a probably risky amounts of antimony. The declare was staunchly refuted by Zhu Zhu Animals producer Cepia Corp.
“We are disputing the results of GoodGuide and we are 100 p.c self-confident that Mr. Squiggles, and all other Zhu Zhu Toys, are safe and sound and compliant with all U.S. and European standards for client wellness and protection in toys,” Russ Hornsby, CEO of Cepia LLC, reported in a assertion posted on the Zhu Zhu Animals Net internet site.
Hornsby told ABC Information that Ceplia’s products “are in compliance with all government and industry protection expectations. They do not include higher concentrations of antimony in any way.”
Simply click here to browse Cepia’s full assertion.
For their test GoodGuide utilized an X-ray fluorescence test that tells exactly how a lot heavy metal is in the product or service, Charles Margulis of the Center for Environmental Health and fitness advised “Excellent Early morning America,” but it does not notify no matter whether the metals pose any hazard and may possibly essentially get out of the toy.
Cepia makes use of a leach take a look at — the industry typical — that examines how much of the chemical will arrive off in lab screening.
Dana O’Rourke, GoodGuide CEO, wrote in a blog site publish that “although GoodGuide considers the presence of any antimony on the surface of a toy to be a problem, we want to explain that we applied a testing methodology to evaluate the toys that is diverse from the screening methodology incorporated into the federal specifications.”
Simply click Below for a lot more information on other possibly harmful toys.
Toxicologist: Antimony Levels Much too Lower to Induce Well being Complications
Antimony is usually located in toys, but the govt limitations it to 60 elements for each million. Testers for GoodGuide claimed that working with an X-ray gun they found up to 103 parts for every million in Mr. Squiggles.
“A metal which has probable health and fitness dangers related to it. Which if ingested in large enough concentrations can guide to cancer, reproductive health and fitness, and other human well being hazards,” O’Rourke said.
Toxicologist Dr. Christopher Holstege from the College of Virginia mentioned those ranges of antimony are much far too very low to trigger any small- or prolonged-phrase overall health challenges.
“We are not recommending that you toss them absent. But if you happen to be concerned about it then we recommend that you simply call the organization or possibly return the product if you come to feel it really is not risk-free adequate for your youngsters,” O’Rourke stated.
Even though the CPSC confident shoppers there will not be a recall since of any violation of the new federal regular for antimony or other significant metals, it did say the company will keep on its investigation by means of impartial testing.
“[The] CPSC is operating especially difficult this time of year to guarantee that toys are protected for all small children,” the CSPC explained in an earlier assertion. “The company is proactively analyzing specific toys and we are operating with consumer teams to take a look at toys they have been introduced to our interest.”
This is the initially yr GoodGuide has tested toys. Hornsby mentioned this early morning that Cepia is getting in touch with GoodGuide to share all of its Zhu Zhu Pet tests details to they can “get to the bottom” of the report.
Click Here to return to the “Very good Morning America” Website website.
