The Combat Mission Gun with high lead levels
The Commerce Commission has issued a warning about 6 children's toys containing extremely high lead levels.
The Commission says the toys are highly toxic and parents should not let their children play with them.
The toys are:
- Kinder-Gartengerate-set (gardening set), purchased at Dollar City, Waiuku
- Combat Mission Gun, purchased at Coin Save, Waiuku
- Bakugan Battle Brawlers, purchased at Coin Save, Waiuku
- Team Quick Stunt Moto (3 bike pack), purchased at Fashion Leader, Papakura
- Action Team Assault Rifle, purchased at Golden House, Papakura
- Super Motivity Truck, purchased at Bargain City, Botany Downs
Toys containing more than 90mg/kg of lead have been banned since 2007. However, testing found lead levels in the 6 products ranged from 105 mg/kg to 28,280 mg/kg.
The Commission does not know how widely the toys were distributed or how many have been sold. It says parents or caregivers concerned their children may have played with the toys should see their GP to arrange blood tests.
Photos of all the toys are available on the Commission's website.
Lipsticks recalled
The Ministry of Health has also requested a voluntary recall of 4 brands of children's play lipstick containing lead and barium.
The brands are K.K. Lipstick, Coral Colours Cosmetics, Ludy and Midie Lipstick. Testing by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs found the products contained low levels of lead and barium and trace amounts of antimony, arsenic, cadmium and chromium.
Heavy metal contamination of toys is a major issue worldwide. Earlier this year, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission advised that young children should not play with cheap metal jewellery because of the risk of exposure to heavy metals.
Consumer NZ wants toy standards beefed-up to improve protection for vulnerable consumers.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Unsafe toys - our recent report about unsafe toys continuing to appear on shop shelves
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