According to a recall notice just posted by the CPSC, RC2 is recalling additional “Thomas & Friends” toys that are contaminated with lead-based paint.

According to the recall notice, some of these 200,000 toys were sold after the June 13 recall of 1.5 million other Thomas & Friends toys.

Back in July, Curt Stoelting, the chief executive of RC2, told the New York Times he fired the vendor who made the contaminated toys:

“We’ve always required our suppliers to follow our safety specifications,” Mr. Stoelting said. “In this incident, those requirements were not met.”

“We’re still moving forward with our Thomas product lines,” he said. “Our goal is to use this incident to really improve our procedures, improve our safeguards.”

Mr. Stoelting said RC2 was now “requiring lead testing of every batch of paint used on the Thomas toys.” On its website, RC2 offered this statement in the way of assurances:

Are the other Thomas Wooden Railway products safe?
To assure that the toys families already have are safe, more than 1,500 individual Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway toy styles were retested. By casting this wide net, we discovered that five additional toys were potentially unsafe and they are being recalled. If we discover any further issues either with current products or past production, we will react quickly to take action and inform consumers, just as we did in September 2007. We’re hopeful that concerned parents, recognize that our Thomas toys have been subjected to intense scrutiny and testing and are that much safer for it.

Unless we’re mistaken this means, “We have no idea, but we really hope so.”

Toy-Train Maker Discusses Lead Paint Problem [NYT]
Voluntary Recall Safety Information [RC2]
RC2 Corp. Recalls Additional Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys Due to Violation of Lead Paint Standard [CPSC]

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