27 Sept 2007 

WASHINGTON: Dangerous levels of lead in more toys and children's necklaces made in China are being recalled, including five more items from the popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. 

RC2 Corp's "Knights of the Sword'' series toys and some of its Thomas and Friends items, along with floor puppet theatres and gardening tools and chairs for children, were among the more than 601,000 toys and children's jewellery announced in the recall by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov).

The recalled toys contain high levels of lead in their surface paint, and the necklaces and jewellery sets contain excessive lead in some of their metal parts. 

Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than .06% lead accessible to users are subject to a recall. The US Government warned parents to make sure children are not playing or using any of the recalled products. 

This is the second recall from the Thomas & Friends product line after RC2 Corp announced June 13 a recall of 1.5 million wooden railway toys. The company is recalling five items, totalling about 200,000 toys in all, of Thomas & Friends toys not included in the first recall. 

"I don't think consumers have seen the end to lead paint recalls,'' said Julie Vallese, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

"There's been a very concentrated, concerted effort by both the CPSC and the industry to do a top-to-bottom investigation of the products to make sure they are not in violation with any toy safety standards,'' said Vallese. "Today's recall is a result of that work.'' 

The recalls include: 

• About 23,500 more necklaces, bracelets and pendants imported by TOBY N.Y.C. of New York. This expands the company's recall of jewellery sets announced on Aug 22. 

• About 850 children's Spinning Wheel Necklace necklaces, produced by a company in the state of Rhode Island. 

• Happy Giddy Gardening Tools and Children's Sunny Patch Chairs, imported by Target Corp, a major US general merchandise chain of stores. The recall involves 350,000 of the toys. The gardening tools and chairs were manufactured by Starite International Ltd of Taiwan. 

• About 200,000 Thomas & Friends Wood Railway Toys and 800 Britain's "Knights of the Sword'' series toys, distributed by RC2 Corp. 

• About 16,000 children's toy rakes imported by Jo-Ann Stores Inc. 

• An estimated 10,000 Floor Puppet Theaters produced by Guidecraft Inc. The recalled puppet theatres, each with a chalkboard surface on the front and coloured side panels, were sold in the US in speciality toy stores, gift shops, catalogues and websites. - AP