WASHINGTON - TOY-MAKER Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys - including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters - because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

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I recently bought 2 items that looked good but when received the items delivered to my home, the 2 items smelled so bad. A strong rubber smell that will not go away even after weeks n months. The smell is disturbing. I know some ppl can say it is brand new n thus has a smell... but the smell is "distinct" and only certain types of rubber or plastic has that kind of smell. Suspect it is an indication of some toxic substances. Not all toxic materials has noticeable smell but I am sure a bad smell is a strong indicator of toxic materials. I wonder if I could check it out. Is there some organization to go to that can ask for testing the product materials if suspect of chemicals used in manufacturing that are substandard, toxic n not in compliance to the legal n allowed guidelines?

yeah just don't trust china products yet. my relative returned from china the other day and bought me a set of bedsheet + quilt cover as gift. However I'm concerned that china products might use toxic dye, so I cut out the thing into small pieces of general purpose rags ... *shudder*

Dr_ExK, if you use them for rags, you'll be like rubbing the toxic substance all over whatever you'd be wiping. I won't even use it to towel my dog that is if I have one. They would come in handy only say, to protect your floor should you want to paint up your place.

What about those stickers (Barbie, Mickey, Marvel Comics etc) that are sold in pasar malams. They have very strong smell too. Are they safe? Come to think of it, I think a lot of children's stuff sold in pasar malams are Made in China.

Actually the 2 things I bought are not toys. They were a chair and a health product. Both items smelt bad. The chair was so bad that I had to push it into the kitchen to "hide" it in a corner. I bought another chair to replace it. Strong rubbery n plastic smell w harsh smelling chemical overtones. The health product had rubber n plastic components w bad smelling rubber parts. I brought it up to the shop actually n at least the salesmen were nice n agreed to look into it n offered me an exchange. It is the manufacturing process n the materials used. Sometimes manufacturers(not sure if China only or not) use materials that contain certain compounds that have aromatic chemicals inside that can be cancer causing n harmful to humans. How often are they tested anyway or checked for breach of legal guidelines in materials used? Anyway I remembered sometime back abt an article where a little boy fell really sick when after sitting in his Dad's new car. Eventually the father brought it up to the authorities and had his car checked out. Apparently, the car smelt bad; stronger than most new cars would smell it seemed. After the checkup, it was reported that the car interior did contain harmful levels of certain chemicals or compounds that were too high level, higher than the approved level. How often do buyers really bother to send their "suspected" items for check up anyway n how much does it cost to do so? Where do we go? Anyway I am mentioning this just to highlight that a strong smell that is mostly unpleasant is likely indicator of toxic substances in items we buy. However if we wanna bring up the issue of toxic elements found in the everyday things we buy; the list can go on n on. What abt the aerosol sprays and even air fresheners contain chemicals that are harmful if inhaled too much. Even bags of potato chips or fried chicken contain cancer causing substances when the oil is heated to high temperatures. What abt the sodium laureth sulfate found in most soaps n shampoos? Over time, this additive to alot of cleansing items can increase risk for cancer or other sicknesses. What abt radiation from handphones too? If we wanna worry, there are actually so many things to worry abt. Not only toxic lead laden toys from China. I am sure even the makeup women use can contain toxic cocktails in its contents n the whitened or bleached tissue papers we use alongside our veges that come from pesticide laden harvests. The worries can never end in our current world. What can we do abt it? I wonder. The polluted world we live in does worry me. :(

Dear Dr_ExK , it seems not only that bedsheets n quilt covers hand carried from China may be toxic. It is quite a reality now actually that everywhere we go n turn; in large modern shopping centres to small stores or pasar malams, alot of items are made in China. From clothes, toys, household items to electronic gadgets like handphones n batteries. I even read an article that cheap batteries we see sold in plastic wrapping can contain high amts of lead too n other chemicals. (DISCLAIMER: Anyway I am not making official statements here abt the safety of any products. I am only sharing my views here on what I have read or heard from my years of reading articles n newspapers/magazines. I cannot say my information is 100% accurate. Nothing is ever certain nowadays when new research reveals new findings n reports each n everyday. I hope my views have not offended anyone. Thanks!)

Dear jeanyow, not only stickers from pasar malam are China made.

Let us all wake up to the blatant cheating & cutting corners that businessmen in China are practising.

A Chinese toy factory used leaded paint to colour their expensive wooden Thomas the Train locomotives, to save money, for years, & were only discovered recently.

Just how many children worldwide have been exposed to the lead paint?

I shudder to think about it!

audione

That's why Medical Oncologists have published data that 1 in 4 S'poreans will be afflicted by cancer at some point in their lives.

That's a sobering statistic, indeed!

Ya la. So worrying. We conquer polio n TB n now we have to battle w rising cancer rates. What next?!