Quality & Safety

Toy Recalls Causing Headaches For Thrift Stores

Toy Recalls Causing Headaches For Thrift Stores

It’s hard to tell what you need to take off the shelf when you buy your product by the pound and aren’t really sure what you’re getting. That’s the problem thrift stores are facing now that so many toys have been recalled.

Store manager Jeremy Lamb said recalls are nothing new to him and his employees. They regularly receive them from their Seattle-based corporate office and they’ll handle the Mattel recall like any other: The recalled toys will be pulled from the shelves and tossed in the trash compactor, he said.

../../../..//2007/08/17/regal-king-gourmet-seafood-ready-to-eat/

Regal King Gourmet Seafood Ready-to-Eat Seafood Dips (bacterial infection), Clarion N.I.C.E. P200 Navigation and Entertainment Systems (fire), Confidence, Inc METABOSLIMTM Apple Cider Vinegar brand dietary supplement (undeclared drug ingredient).

It's Easy To Miss News Of Product Recalls

It's Easy To Miss News Of Product Recalls

It may seem crazy to loyal readers of the Consumerist, but people often important news when it comes to product recalls. NPR introduces us to James Millard Wilson, an art student in Baltimore who missed the news of the American Medical Optic (AMO) Complete MoisturePLUS Multipurpose Contact Lens Solution. He used to solution and got a painful eye infection that could have lead to blindness if he hadn’t gone to the hospital.

Consumer Reports Advises Families With Small Children To Avoid Magnet Toys

Consumer Reports Advises Families With Small Children To Avoid Magnet Toys

Consumer Reports is advising families with small children to stay away from magnet toys and products for adults that have small, strong magnets.

../../../..//2007/08/15/bentleys-520-arnages-wrong-bolts/

Bentleys 520 Arnages (wrong bolts attached to the wheels), Gilchrist & Soames 0.65oz/18ml hotel toothpaste (poison), Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative Recalls Junction Boxes (fire), Giftco Gold Pine Cone Candle Sets, (fire), Bosch Skil Circular Saws (laceration), Classic Beauty Rest Electric Warming Throws (fire).

Nokia Recalls 46 Million Defective Batteries

Nokia Recalls 46 Million Defective Batteries

Nokia has recalled 46 million defective Chinese-made batteries according to the New York Times. The batteries can overheat and dislodge during charging. Nokia promises to replace the batteries at no cost to the consumer.

Mattel Recalls Over 7 Million Chinese-Made Toys For Lead Paint, Magnets

Mattel Recalls Over 7 Million Chinese-Made Toys For Lead Paint, Magnets

Today Mattel expanded their lead paint recall to include 253,000 die cast “Cars” toys. In addition, Mattel expended a 2006 magnetic toy recall to include about 7 million other toys.

Mattel Will Recall Another Chinese-Made Toy For Lead Paint

Mattel Will Recall Another Chinese-Made Toy For Lead Paint

Mattel is probably going to take another toy off the shelves due to overleaded paint, reports the AP and a tipster. The announcement of which toy could come today.

Chinese Car Fails Frontal Crash Test In Spectacular Fashion

Last month Chrysler struck a deal with the manufacturer of the Chery Amulet, shown in the above crash test video. In accordance with the deal, Chery would manufacture small cars for import into the US.

../../../..//2007/08/13/ifs-sandwiches-listeria-monocytogenes-formation/

Window Blinds (strangulation), 2007 Raleigh Cadent Bicycles with Carbonage Carbon Forks (loss of control), Sherwin-Williams Hi-Heat Aerosol Coating Cans (serious facial injury), Plan 9 LED lights (fire), IMI Cornelius frozen carbonated drink dispensers (fire), Coldwater Creek Shawl Collar Sweaters (fire)

Chinese Lead Toy Maker Commits Suicide In Mattel Recall Aftermath

Chinese Lead Toy Maker Commits Suicide In Mattel Recall Aftermath

The owner of a Chinese toy factory identified by Mattel as the maker of the lead-tainted toys involved in a million unit recall committed suicide Saturday afternoon inside his factory, according to Chinese officials, the AP reports. According to the article, dishonored officials commonly commit suicide.

Congress Prepares The FDA For Battle With The Chinese Poison Train

Congress Prepares The FDA For Battle With The Chinese Poison Train

House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) has drafted a bill that will dramatically alter the way the FDA handles imported food. Under the draft bill, food imports would be limited to ports clustered near FDA field labs, and would need to display a label identifying the country of origin. Exporters would be subject to a strict new certification program established by the Department of Health and Human Services. And that is just the start.

Smell Your Makeup!

Smell Your Makeup!

Consumer Affairs says bad makeup can harbor nasty bacteria, and can lead to such unpleasant face decorations as conjuctivitis or peri-oral dermatitis (little red bumps that look like acne). They suggest you tattoo permanent eyeliner and lipstick so you don’t have to worry about makeup. No, wait, that’s what we suggest. They actually suggest throwing out your eye makeup and liquid foundations after three months, powders after a year, and application sponges after a week. Oh, and smell your makeup: “An unusual odor usually means that it contains bacteria.”

Class Action Filed Against ConAgra For The Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2007

Class Action Filed Against ConAgra For The Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2007

39 individuals who contracted salmonella after consuming Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter have slapped ConAgra with a $5 million class action suit. An additional 2,200 people have expressed interest in joining the action against the agribusiness giant. From the Daily Report:

Bulletproof Backpacks For Kids

Bulletproof Backpacks For Kids

Because it’s every American’s right (duty?) to be scared, and to shop, someone has invented the perfect terror protection must-have for back-to-school: bulletproof backpacks! The inventors, both of them fathers of school-age children, say the special plate sewn into the back of the bag can withstand not only bullets, but machetes, hatchets, and Ka-bar knives.

Heartburn Drugs Prilosec and Nexium May Cause Heart Attacks

The FDA has launched a safety review of the heartburn drugs Prilosec and Nexium after two studies linked the medicines to an increased risk of: “heart attacks, heart failure, and heart-related sudden death.” The FDA warned that the studies are only preliminary, and that doctors and patients should keep using the drugs. From the LA Times:

FDA Warns Consumers Not To Eat Certain Raw Oysters From Washington State

FDA Warns Consumers Not To Eat Certain Raw Oysters From Washington State

The FDA has issued a warning not to eat raw oysters from the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state. Oysters from the Hood Canal have been linked to an outbreak of vibriosis, a rare illness caused by the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria.

Chinese Tire Recall Goes Into Effect

NHTSA ordered the recall after Foreign Tire Sales told the agency that some of Hangzhou Zhongce’s tires were made without a safety feature, called a gum strip, that helps bind the belts of a tire to each other. Some of the tires had a gum strip about half the width of the 0.6 millimeter gum strip Foreign Tire Sales expected, the importer said.