More Chinese product recalls

[Amelia]

Dutch Company Recalls Chinese Mattresses

17 Aug, 2007

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- A chain of Dutch bed stores said Friday it is recalling more than 1,300 Chinese-made foam mattresses amid fears they were sprayed with toxic insecticide.

Beter Bed Holding announced the recall after tests on a shipping container holding more than 700 mattresses found they contained poison, possibly as a result of being sprayed to kill insects in wooden packaging.

"Given its contents, the container ... should not have been sprayed," the company said.

It said it was destroying the shipment of 728 mattress and recalling 1,310 from earlier deliveries, which were sold by its BeddenReus chain. Shoppers were urged to return the items to the stores for a refund.

News of possibly toxic mattresses is another blow to the already tarnished product safety record of Chinese exporters following a string of scandals including tainted dog food and toothpaste and lead paint on toys.

Beijing attempted to repair some of the damage Friday by releasing a policy paper that touted its past food safety record and a current campaign to crack down on poor - and potentially dangerous - food processing practices.

Ironically, the spraying may have been part of a Chinese move to ensure exports were not infected.

"You can do that with solid stuff, but not of course with food, textiles, stuff people sleep on," Beter Bed spokesman Richard Neve said. "If you put a chemical compound on a (foam) sleeping mattress, like a sponge it fills itself up."

The mattresses were found to be tainted when Dutch government inspectors checked the container at Rotterdam port, said Jan-Jaap Eikelboom, a spokesman at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.

"The first check showed they were poisonous, exactly what (the poison is) we still have to check," Eikelboom said.

Although the ministry has yet to deliver a verdict on what the toxic material is, Beter Bed said it believed it to be benzene, a carcinogen, and a chemical compound called 1,2-dichloroethane - also known as ethylene dichloride, or EDC.

Eikelboom said he did not know where in China the shipment of mattresses originated.

[Amelia]

Toys 'R' Us Pulls Bibs As a Precaution

By JEFFREY GOLD

AP Business Writer

17 Aug, 2007

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Toys "R" Us Inc. on Friday said it was removing all vinyl baby bibs from its Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores as a precaution after two bibs made in China for one supplier showed lead levels that exceeded Toys "R" Us standards.

Toys "R" Us, which operates over 1,500 stores, said the result came in testing this month of bibs supplied by Hamco Inc. and marketed under the Koala Baby, Especially for Baby and Disney Baby labels.

Tests of Hamco bibs in May were within standards, Toys "R" Us said.

Vinyl bibs made by other companies have been temporarily removed to avoid any confusion among customers and allow further testing, Wayne-based Toys "R" Us said.

A message seeking comment from Hamco, based in Gonzales, La., was not immediately returned.

Childhood exposure to lead can cause learning problems, reduced intelligence, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, studies have shown.

Toys "R" Us, the nation's second-largest toy seller after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said customers can return any vinyl bib purchased from a Toys "R" Us or Babies "R" Us store for a full refund.

Information is available at 1-800-869-7787.

The bib removal is the latest in a series of recent problems involving imports from China. Products including tires, toys, toothpaste, seafood and pet food have been recalled.

The Toys "R" Us move involves about 160,000 vinyl bibs, including some in its warehouses. Nearly 90 percent of the bibs are from Hamco, and all of them were made in China, Toys "R" Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said.

The action by Toys "R" Us came two days after a California environmental group said that some vinyl bibs made in China and sold at Toys "R" Us stores contained lead levels well above federal safety limits for lead in paint.

Toys "R" Us has said its May tests were prompted by Wal-Mart's decision that month to recall lead-tainted vinyl bibs from its stores nationwide. Wal-Mart's recall came after a lawsuit brought by the Center for Environmental Health, the California group.

Both the bibs sold by Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us were manufactured in China for Hamco.

A statement issued by Hamco at the time of the Wal-Mart recall did not address whether their bibs contained lead but quoted an industry trade group statement suggesting that the risk of babies ingesting lead even if the bibs were tainted was slight.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement in May saying that the lead-contaminated bibs were safe if in good condition. But if a bib "deteriorates to the point that a baby could pull or bite off and swallow a piece of vinyl containing lead, then the amounts of lead consumed could approach levels of concern," the agency said

[Gail]

My goodness- what's next? I didn't even know you could get lead into a bib!