Being the mother of two young boys, both obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, the following scared me a bit when I first read it.
RC2 Corp., the maker of Thomas the Tank Engine toys, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today the recall of a number of Thomas the Tank Engine trains and accessory parts because they are colored with lead paint. There have been no reports of injuries.
The recall is pretty big and included Thomas products sold from January 2005 through the present.
According to the CPSC, the recall involves the wooden vehicles, buildings and other train set items listed below. The front of the packaging has the logo “Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway” on the upper left-hand corner. A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. Toys marked with codes containing “WJ” or “AZ” are not included in this recall.
Here is a list of the items that have been recalled. If you are like me you’ll be printing the list out and searching through trains for the rest of the evening.
Red James Engine & Red James’ # 5 Coal Tender
Red Lights & Sounds James Engine & Red James’ #5 Lights & Sounds Coal Tender
James with Team Colors Engine & James with Team Colors #5 Coal Tender
Red Skarloey Engine
Brown & Yellow Old Slow Coach
Red Hook & Ladder Truck & Red Water Tanker Truck
Red Musical Caboose
Red Sodor Line Caboose
Red Coal Car labeled “2006 Day Out With Thomas” on the Side
Red Baggage Car
Red Holiday Caboose
Red “Sodor Mail” Car
Red Fire Brigade Truck
Red Fire Brigade Train
Deluxe Sodor Fire Station
Red Coal Car Yellow Box Car
Red Stop Sign
Yellow Railroad Crossing Sign
Yellow “Sodor Cargo Company” Cargo Piece
Smelting Yard
Ice Cream Factory
The company is asking that you take the toys away immediately and contact them for a replacement. You can reach them, toll-free, at (866) 725-4407 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Thursday and between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. CT Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at recalls.rc2.com
Excellent posting!
Made in China Inc.
Wow. I cannot believe that there are companies still out there using lead paint – and on children’s toys.
Wow, Thanks Shannan. This is great.
Holy steam engines, this is HUGE news! Thanks for the tip!
According to the National Safety Council:
“All it takes is the lead dust equivalent of a single grain of salt for a child to register an elevated blood lead level.
There are many different health effects associated with elevated blood lead levels. Young children under the age of six are especially vulnerable to lead’s harmful health effects, because their brains and central nervous system are still being formed. For them, even very low levels of exposure can result in reduced IQ, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, behavioral problems, stunted growth, impaired hearing, and kidney damage.”
These toys were apparently manufactured in China.
http://www.nsc.org/library/facts/lead.htm
Wow.. I feel like I should just get rid of all of my son’s red cars.
Thanks! My two boys ages 4 & 2 have many trains on the list. My 8 month old likes to bite on the trains! I’m so glad they finally came out with this information! thanks again
my son and I have played with thomas the train products since he was 2 years old. He is now 6 years old we both have been sick that the doctors have not been able to figure out. My son has had dizzy spells with vomitting since January of 2007 and I have been in the hospital 5 times in 6 months and all the doctors can’t figure it out. I thought possibly it could be something in my house making us sick. Maybe this is our problem. I diffently will try to find out. This has cost me a job, medical bills and extreme stress from unsolved health problems. I can’t put into words how I feel about this lead being in a toy for childred to play with, if this is why we are sick look out, because I am very angry !!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Why after so many reports over the years stating the dangers of lead paint are we still to this day having this problem? I would say someone needs to be held seriously responsible!!!
I know. I was shocked. In this day and age this is not something we should have to be worrying about.
Thank god we cheaped out and did Take along Thomas : )