Zhu Zhu Pets Recall? "Toxic" Robot Toys Are Unsafe, Group Claims

Zhu Zhu Pets Recall? "Toxic" Robot Toys Are Unsafe, Group Claims

www.huffingtonpost.com

ST. LOUIS — A consumer group contends one of the holiday season's must-have toys is unsafe.

But the maker of the robotic Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters defended its product Saturday against a study by San Francisco-based GoodGuide that said higher-than-allowed levels of the chemical antimony were found in the toy.

Good Guide named Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters one of the top-selling toys with low ratings after finding antimony, which can cause health problems, on the hair and nose of one of the toy hamsters, called Mr. Squiggles.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Darned if I can figure out why, but zhu zhu pets are evidently this year's "must have" Christmas gift for children. Why don't people just get a real hamster for their kid?

For the sake of all the kids who want one for Christmas, though, I hope the antimony threat isn't significant enough to necessitate their recall.

I could make a comment here about toxic toys and other products from China, but I won't because I don't want to generalize about a whole country.

IMO American goods produced in the early industrial revolution were probably also often hazardous. There were no safety regulations on products at that time, just as regulations in the developing nation of China are less stringent than ours now.

But if China wants to continue to sell goods to the U.S., it's going to have to raise safety standards.



www.huffingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Sestias


China is probably applying antimony as a heat retardant. Here is a link en.wikipedia.org... that explains it's uses and dangers.

After all the poisoned goods in the past from China you'd think that parents would look at the label.

the Toy Retailers Association in the UK has told Sky News that the tests carried out by GoodGuide scientists do not stand up because they did not test the soluble levels of the chemical.

news.sky.com

This may well be yet another storm in teacup. It appears that the detractors of Go-Go Hamster may not have used appropriate testing methods, and the results are therefore erroneous.

I too have no idea why they might be so popular. My Kung-Fu Hamster on the other hand...



mod edit, to fix link


[edit on Mon Dec 7 2009 by DontTreadOnMe]

OOps! Sorry, er, how do I stop that happening again?

If you think America is better at regulating safety for consumer products.. you are sadly mistaken.

America is simply better at keeping it under wraps and maintaining a blissful nation-wide ignorance.. e.g. "Look at China, and their poisonous products! See, they're bad, not us, see!"

China simply doesn't care that much to hide it as much as America does. If a big enough scene is made they will certainly take action. Otherwise, ignorance is a wonderful thing.

People shouldn't touch and put things in their mouth that are so unnatural anyway. If you buy things that are made in an extremely hazardous environment, where all byproducts are toxic (but somehow magically nontoxic once they hit the shelves), then you shouldn't cry about it when someone tells you it's unsafe. Big surprise, you were warned, welcome your sickness and move on.

reply to post by SyphonX


Yes, we're supposed to have federal agencies to oversee and regulate these possible hazards, but in recent years the government has been turning over more and more of its responsibilities to the private sector. And we all know how honest corporations are about the hazards of their own products.

Originally posted by Witness2008
After all the poisoned goods in the past from China you'd think that parents would look at the label.

Have you looked at all of the labels? It's hard finding something NOT made in China these days.

reply to post by SyphonX


We do have regulatory agencies that test anything and everything that this country produces. Testing standards were lowered for imports for the sake of trade agreements. Once upon a time I thought the residents of my country to be of a high intellect. Things do change... don't they?

People whine and cry about prices while on their binge shopping trips then moan and groan when they get what they paid for.

Consider how the Chinese treat their own....does anyone really think they'll give a rats a@# about us?

reply to post by lpowell0627


Every item I buy is inspected for country of origin. If I don't know...I don't buy.

I find everything I need and want with no problem at all. I boycott the corporations that are vested in the cheap labor, polluting and exploiting practices that bring us all that wonderful Chinese landfill.

reply to post by Witness2008


From the article I gather that antimony can be very dangerous, even leading to death.

I certainly wouldn't want to expose a child of mine to even a little of it.

Zhu zhu pets are coming off my shopping list this Christmas.

You know what I found interesting about this. I noticed these toys before Halloween when I was looking for birthday presents for my daughter. Target carried all the accessories, but did not carry the little hampsters. My boys and I thought that was soooooo odd, but I suppose now it makes sense. Perhaps they knew ahead of time and refused to sell them??

Originally posted by Sestias



IMO American goods produced in the early industrial revolution were probably also often hazardous. There were no safety regulations on products at that time, just as regulations in the developing nation of China are less stringent than ours now.

But if China wants to continue to sell goods to the U.S., it's going to have to raise safety standards.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Here's the thing though. When Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle", countries stopped buying our meat, so we invented the FDA.

However, we can't force China, the owner of our debt, to increase safety, because we can't stop buying from them... we HAVE TO. So much for the free market.. it's a pipe dream when a country owns you.


[edit on 7-12-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Well as of today the fed testers found them to be within the toy safety standards. Also the consumer group involved in this is saying that while they were correct in their assessment of how much antimony is in the toy that their method of testing was not the equivalent of the federal tests. Which apparently also tests for how much of the metal would seep out if the toy was sucked or chewed on.


Zhu Zhu Pets safe, safety regulators say

Who says we can not stop buying from them.

On Jan 1 just tell china that we will stop taking any toys that contain toxic chemicals.
if they send more just stop any products from that factory in china for ever.

After a few factories can no longer ship products to the US ether china will wise up or there will be more bans till no toys can be shipped from china at all.

The problem is china sends toxic products to third world countries every day and gets away with it so they think they can sneak them through to the US because they get away with it like this time.

China knew these toys were toxic and did not care.
They will take these toys back and repackage them and sell them to some third world countries and still make money.

Here is an extensive list of articles that covers all of the tainted and dangerous products coming out of China www.theepochtimes.com...

How much effort is needed in looking at a label? It seems to me to be a wise preventative measure. Our illustrious leaders have no intention of looking after our health and well being and more interested in placating our debt holder. Stop and think of the things that you buy...has anyone purchased a Chinese product they actually needed?

reply to post by Jovi1

This part of the article you posted was especially interesting:

Later in the day, the CPSC told AP that it has concluded the toy, which retails for about $10, does not pose a threat based on independent testing presented by the toy’s manufacturer, St. Louis-based Cepia LLC.

“CPSC confirmed today that the popular Zhu Zhu toy is not out of compliance with the antimony or other heavy metal limits of the new U.S. mandatory toy standard,” agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said.

How much can you trust the manufacturer on this subject? That's what the U.S. government has been doing the last 10 years or so -- letting the manufacturers test their own products.

And this:

Instead of testing the toy, the CPSC observed that the toy didn’t have any painted surfaces and thus was not subject to the new heavy metal testing standards, according to Gib Mullan, the agency’s director of compliance and field operations.

The CPSC didn't even test it?

I think it's good this information is out there. If parents decide they want to take a chance with the product they will at least have done so knowing the results of some tests.




[edit on 8-12-2009 by Sestias]