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The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Upbeat_Ruin on 2024-08-06 14:46:36+00:00.
Hi! I had this topic on file for a couple weeks. On my previous post about the Miniverse recall, a person mentioned the wave of recalls that happened in 2007 and expressed interest in a write-up. I said, I have one waiting in the wings, so why not? Here you go.
CW: There is a brief mention of a suicide in paragraph 18, the second-to-last in the write-up.
Do you think that centuries from now, when explorers are excavating the ruins of US suburbia, they'll unearth countless artifacts and become fascinated with a certain three-word phrase that can be found on almost all of them? With the English language lost to time or rendered unrecognizable from centuries of linguistic evolution, will they think “Made in China” is an incantation for good luck? A prayer to ward off wayward spirits? A tribute to the ruler?
Who knows, but for us, we've come to associate that phrase with cheaply made products of varying quality. To be fair, there are plenty of reputable factories in China (LEGO has one, for example. And we know they're no slouch with product quality.) The reputation is hard to shake off, though. That being said, most of the time, we don't associate “Made in China” stamped on our stuff with imminent danger.
But in 2007, that was the case. Anno-Domini 2007 was the Year of the Pig in the lunar zodiac officially, but to the public, it was the Year of the Recall.
Toys weren't the only type of goods that got yanked from the shelves in the panic. Pet food was also affected, after tragic consequences. Toothpaste, tires, and cosmetics got axed as well. But we'd be here all day if I went over everything. For this write-up, the focus on is on toys, since that seems to be my bread and butter with Hobby Drama posts.
The most common reason for toy recalls in 2007 was violation of federal standards on lead content. Lead (Pb 82) is a toxic heavy metal, with similar properties to its periodic neighbors thallium, cadmium, and mercury. Acute lead toxicity can be fatal. Even low doses are dangerous, with numerous short- and long-term effects. Among other things, lead accumulates in the bones and leaches into the bloodstream over time. It can bypass the blood-brain barrier to degrade neurons and inhibit neurotransmitters. You don't have to be popping it in your mouth to be exposed, either; lead in dust form from stripped paint or leaded gasoline fumes is just as toxic. Long-term lead exposure has been linked to aggression, impulsivity, inclinations to violence, and other anti-social behaviors. Sociologists have even suggested a link between excessive lead exposure and crime, with a hypothesis that violent crime rates dropped dramatically in the 90s partially due to federal bans on leaded gasoline and paint.
(Side note: pencil “lead” is actually graphite, a harmless form of carbon. It hasn't been made of real lead in decades. You're okay if you chewed on your pencils as a kid. I mean, who didn't?)
So why on earth was this very dangerous material being put in children's toys? The answer, like with most heinous situations, is money. Lead is dirt cheap. Pun intended, since it's so plentiful you probably would find some in your backyard dirt. When added to paint, it brightens the pigment, making it useful for colors like yellow, red, and white. Anyone who's had to paint a large area those colors knows how annoying it can be to get good coverage. Lots of layers, like an onion. Lead additives also help paint dry faster and resist moisture. Too bad it flakes over time and sloughs off toxic paint chips. For unscrupulous companies looking to make as many products as cheaply as possible, slipping a little of that ol' atomic number 82 in the paint to stretch it starts to look appealing.
Here's a run-down on items that were recalled for lead violations. To stay on-topic and keep the post from getting too long, I'm not going to discuss every toy that got pulled. Not all the recalled toys in 2007 were affected because of toxicity; a significant number of them had to be pulled because of issues with small parts or magnets coming loose. One magnet swallowed by a child is not acutely dangerous, but two or more can be deadly. They can attach to each other within the digestive system, possibly tearing the stomach or intestines.
Children's jewelry was recalled in droves in 2007. Why, oh why, would companies put lead into a product that rests on children's skin and is often put in their mouths? Well, like I said before, lead is cheap. It also melts at a much lower temperature (449 F) than metals such as steel (2500 F), making it easier to cast. While going through the 12-page list of lead-related recalls from 2007 on the CPSC website, I found a whopping 30 entries for children's jewelry that exceeded legal limits (albeit some were expansions to previous recalls), from a variety of companies such as Cardinal, Rhode Island Novelty, Claire's, and Limited Too. Clearly, there were dangerous levels of cost-cutting going on here. It's so bad that on the CPSC's page for downloading posters, their one about thrift store safety recommends not selling or buying metal children's jewelry at all.
RC2 Corporation had to pull knight figures and wooden Thomas and Friends train sets because of lead surface paint. I wanted to point out this one in particular because it's partially responsible for Tamara Rubin's Lead-Safe Mama movement existing. After her sons were sickened by lead poisoning in 2005, she became militant about protecting them, only for the tainted trains to sneak into her home anyway. So that's what set her on the crusade to end childhood lead poisoning.
RC2 also recalled a Winnie the Pooh training potty for babies, due to lead paint in the orange decorative plate that inserted into the back. However, the remedy for that recall was not for consumers to return the potty to the store; instead, they were issued a permanent plastic cover to place over the offending plate. Okay, sure.
Mattel was hit particularly hard by the recalls, as a consequence of being such a juggernaut within the toy industry. Millions of items exported from their Chinese factories were pulled, including but not limited to: Barbie accessory sets, Sesame Street figures, Dora the Explorer and Diego playsets, diecast models of the character “Sarge” from Cars (as far as I can tell, no other characters ran afoul of lead paint regulations), and Fisher-Price toys. Mattel's stock share value dipped briefly as a result, although it recovered quickly. The owner of Barbie and Fisher-Price won't stay down for long, you know.
Other tainted items included wooden toys from Soldier Bear, a growth chart, children's sunglasses, holiday figures and ornaments, toy cars, fishing game sets, pencil pouches, snowglobes, confetti poppers, Curious George dolls, Halloween trick-or-treat buckets, kid's art supplies, spin tops, children's gardening tools, wagons, cake toppers, dollar store figures, baby doll furniture, bookmarks (???), key chains, balance beams...look, you get the picture. It was a lot of stuff that got recalled for lead paint violations. Going through the list, I was quite surprised at how many items can even end up with lead paint on them. It wasn't only cheap dollar store crap that got affected, either; even somewhat high-profile brands like Breyer had recalls that year.
A dishonorable mention goes to Bindeez (Aqua Dots in the US) - a type of aqua bead that bonded to themselves once sprayed with water. For once, it wasn't because of lead paint violations, but they made up for that by being toxic in other ways. Instead of the nontoxic plasticizer 1,5 pentanediol, Bindeez contained 1,4 butanediol. Butanediol metabolizes into gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in the stomach. Yes, that GHB, the depressant drug GHB. Within the body, it induces the effects of an overdose such as seizure, coma, or even death. Once again, this was as a result of corner-cutting at the factory; the nontoxic plasticizer is three to five times more expensive than the toxic one.
It was a terrifying year to be a parent or caregiver. Buying children's products felt like playing Russian roulette – you could never guess what item from a brand you previously trusted could end up on the recall list.
As a result of the Year of the Recall, the US government started passing stricter regulations on toy safety and customs. Amy Klobuchar, senator of Minnesota at the time (and the time of this writing), stated that the horrifying situation indicated that the Consumer Product Safety Commission needed greater funding and authority. Then-president George W. Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 into law, after it passed unanimously in the House and 79-13 in the Senate. It imposed stricter limits for toxic substances in various household goods, with an emphasis on children's products. The lead limit was lowered from 600 ppm to 90 ppm (for surface) and 100 ppm (for substrate). Fines for violations were raised, and jail time could be prescribed for some violations. The law also put the power for recalls into the CPSC's hands directly, for their approval.
The law was not without its opponents, most of them being manufacturers who argued that its terms were too much and too soon. The CPSIA had given them only a year to comply with the new standards, a window they felt was much too small. To be fair, the timeline for product development can last months, unless you're Temu or Shein and you ...
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