Add Thomas & Friends to the List of Toxic Chinese Products
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 
on 06.14.07
RC2 Corp., which sells Thomas the Tank Engine toys, is recalling over 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway vehicles and accessories because their surface paint contains lead. This is a massive recall; it's about 4 percent of all the trains RC2 has sold in the United States. I can personally confirm this, my son had fourteen of the items on the list. Get the return form here.
The U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report states that the toys were manufactured in China. Now, I don't want to nip and prod but my kid, your kid, played with those trains. And, barring readers who just woke from a coma (congrats, by the way), it's not news that lead paint has been banned in the US for almost 30 years. Did that message not percolate across the Pacific? Guess not, because China was held accountable for 65 percent of all the recalled products in this US this year, with lead being named as a recurring cause among the recalls.
Some say that when a country has 800 million people employed in a manufacturing economy, it will just take some time to correct these issues. Cough, cough; in the case of lead, you have had 30 years. Truth is, these are simply bad faith manufacturing practices and the list is endless - the one million recalled Easy-Bake Ovens, the deadly vinyl lunch boxes, the melamine pet food, the Chinese cold medicine that killed 51 Panamanians, the toothpaste that contains anti-freeze, the soy sauce made out of hair. Here's one word for you - 近义词. :: ABC
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 7 Ways the Troubled Automotive Industry Could Change Your Car and Your Commute
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- Shocking Report Reveals Marine Litter Madness (Plus 10 Easy Ways to Help Save Our Oceans!)
- Green Glossary: Meltwater
- Forget Fireworks on the 4th of July—Because they Suck
- Cure Your Toxic Yard: Plants That Extract Lead And Other Buried Pollutants
Imagine the desperation that drives them.
desperation isn't driving the decisions- its greed combined with the realities of an unregulated manufacturing environment. Same old story- nothing heroic about it. If you've ever dealt with manufacturers over there, you'd know that there is a culture of deal making toward lowering product cost- at the price of all the others 'costs'.
The law firm of Price Waicukauski & Riley, LLC has filed a law suit against the manufacturers of the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys, alleging that the Toys’ surface paint contains lead. We are looking to learn as much about other consumers’ experiences as possible. If you would like to speak to one of our attorneys regarding your purchase of any of the Thomas & Friends Toys, please call us at 1-800-905-2586 and ask to speak with Jamie Kendall (jkendall@price-law.com) or Will Riley (wriley@price-law.com).