Asbestos in Toys Is No Joke

You may remember Irwin Mainway, an outrageous character created by Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live. Mainway’s toy company sold products like Johnny Switchblade (with a real knife), Mr. Skin Grafter (don’t ask), and Bag o’ Glass (a bag of broken glass). Tragically, toys containing asbestos are no joke.

A company called Planet Toys sold toy forensic lab kits based on the popular television program CSI. Tests revealed the white “fingerprint” powder in the kit contained asbestos. Four days before Christmas 2007, Planet Toys sent a notice to retail stores to pull the kit off shelves. But many children played with the kits before their parents learned of the asbestos threat.

Planet Toys filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this past March and is shielded from lawsuits. Instead, the retailers are giving purchasers a $30 refund for the toy. According to Rachel Feintzeig of the Wall Street Journal, recently the public interest law firm Public Justice, representing the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, reached an agreement with retailers, including Toys ‘R Us, CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Kmart. The retailers will pay for the costs of the claims administration and will hand over $30,000 to the ADAO.

Physicians were especially concerned about the “fingerprint” powder, because the powder was meant to be scattered around with a soft-bristle brush so that children could find fingerprints. There was a significant risk that a child could breathe in the powder. Exposure to asbestos can result in mesothelioma, a deadly lung cancer; asbestosis; and other serious diseases.

Planet Toys products were made in China, which is growing infamous for lax safety standards. This year cosmetics and baby powder made in China and sold in South Korea were discovered to be contaminated with asbestos. In recent years asbestos has also been found in toy clay.

Barbara O’Brien
July 9, 2009

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