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Parents worry over toy recalls

Posted August 13, 2007 11:00 pm

Genevieve Diesing

Jeannie Jorgenson will be sorting through hundreds of toys in the next couple days, trying to figure out which ones might be toxic to her children.

The Peoria mother of five, like many parents throughout the nation today, hopes her kids haven't accidentally ingested any magnets or lead paint present in the 9.5 million toys recalled in America by Mattel Inc. on Tuesday, in addition to the millions the company recalled earlier this month. These toys include Polly Pocket assortments, the Barbie and Tanner figurines, the Pixar "CARS" character "Sarge" and a Batman action figure.

"You have to really read the fine print to figure out what's unsafe," said Jorgenson. "With five kids we have a ton of toys and (my daughter) chews on most of them."

Jorgenson's 8-year-old disabled daughter, Gracie, often puts her toys in her mouth. Had Gracie swallowed a couple magnets from toys such as the Polly Pocket dolls, the magnets could cause drastic damage.

"The magnets that they're using are very powerful magnets. Because they're so powerful, they could actually attract each other inside the body," said Dr. John Hafner of the Children's Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. "This could cause erosion of the bowel wall and twisting of the bowels" - a very serious condition that requires surgery and could be fatal.

The danger doesn't end there. While most of the toys were recalled Tuesday because of loose magnets, the "Sarge" toy has been added to the earlier recall because of the lead content in its surface paint, which can lead to serious neurological damage if ingested.

"Children should get lead screening if there's a chance they're using these toys," said Hafner, who added that ingesting the paint was "relatively hard."

Though consuming the paint might be difficult, that's of little comfort to parents.

"I'd like to go out and purchase the things I want without down the road having to look back and think I poisoned my child," said Michelle Wagner of Peoria, who has four young sons. "It makes me frustrated as a consumer. I can't trust where they're coming from is safe."

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Web site, most of Tuesday's recalled toys were Polly Pocket dolls, sold at retail stores from May 2003 to November 2006. The commission received more than 400 complaints about magnets coming loose from these dolls, three of which resulted in serious injury to children.

A news release on Mattel's Web site explains that the Chinese contractor responsible for the "Sarge" vehicle, which was sold between May and August of 2007, violated Mattel's policy and subcontracted the painting of the toys by a non-authorized, third-party supplier, which ended up using toxic paint.

"It bothers me that you can't trust the toys that you buy, but it kind of seems to be the norm now with most things these days, like with the recalls with food and other things," said Jorgensen. "It just seems like everything isn't being regulated like it should be."

Kurt Fenton, director of the community health and prevention office at the Peoria City/County Health Department, says that parents are welcome to bring their children in for lead screenings, which cost $15 unless the child is covered by the All Kids health insurance program. Both Fenton and Hafner said that in relation to the levels of lead children are exposed to on a daily basis - especially in Peoria, where many old buildings have decaying lead paint - the amount of danger of the lead in these toys isn't incredibly significant.

Genevieve Diesing can be reached at (309) 686-3194 or at gdiesing@pjstar.com.

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