Hidden hazards: Kids at risk

ALLERGY THREAT: A TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Whole Foods pulls 'gluten-free' products from shelves after Tribune story

Responding to a Tribune investigation and mounting consumer pressure, Whole Foods Market said Tuesday it has pulled three popular "gluten-free" products because the items actually contain the substance.

ALLERGY THREAT: A TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Children at risk in food roulette

American children with food allergies are suffering life-threatening--and completely avoidable--reactions because manufacturers mislabel their products and regulators fail to police store shelves, a Tribune investigation has found.

A recipe for disaster

Whole Foods Market has long trumpeted its premium chocolate bars for being made the old-fashioned way, in Switzerland.

Family sues Disney over bassinet death

The family of a child who died this year in a Winnie the Pooh bassinet has sued the Walt Disney Co., alleging the company allowed sales of the bassinets despite a flawed design that had been linked to another baby's death a year earlier.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Crib warnings missed before recall

At first, Susan and Robert Cirigliano were thrilled when they learned of Delta Enterprise's October recall of 1.6 million cribs. Finally, they thought, the company was acknowledging the death of their 6-month-old son in a Delta baby bed.

Tribune Investigation

Hidden crib dangers

Less than a month ago, the federal government recalled nearly 1.6 million cribs sold by the world's largest distributor of baby beds. But parents who asked Delta Enterprise for a repair kit to fix the cribs' hazardous drop rails may have a false sense of confidence, according to a Tribune investigation.

Latest crib recall broadens Consumer Product Safety Commission's focus

Tuesday's recall of nearly 1.6 million cribs opened a new front in the battle to improve consumer safety by focusing attention on older or reassembled children's products.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

Feds, Graco withheld bassinet warning

Federal safety regulators and Graco Children's Products knew two weeks ago that bassinets sold under the Graco name had the same dangerous design that caused two babies' deaths but did not alert the public as part of a larger recall, the Tribune has found.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Dangerous bassinets still on shelves

Federal regulators urged retailers to pull more Simplicity bassinets from their shelves after Illinois attorney general staffers purchased models that could kill a baby but were excluded from a federal alert issued last week.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

Toys 'R' Us gets tough with cribmakers

Toys "R" Us Inc., one of the nation's biggest retailers of nursery furniture, is forcing cribmakers to build sturdier products to avoid a potentially deadly hazard.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Recalls illustrate how push for cheaper goods can have tragic consequences

Until it collapsed in a financial crisis this spring, Simplicity Inc. was a case study in how companies can prosper in an increasingly globalized economy.

Death in a bassinet

Kennedy Brotherton Jones, 6 months old, slipped through the gap between the metal support rail and the mattress of her bassinet last week in Shawnee, Kansas. Stuck in that perilous gap of her 4-in-1 Winnie the Pooh bassinet—manufactured by Simplicity—Kennedy was asphyxiated.

UPDATE: 900,000 bassinets dangerous

Federal regulators on Thursday night directed retailers across the country to stop selling and to recall nearly 900,000 dangerous bassinets, one of the largest child product safety actions in years.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

Popular bassinet linked to at least 2 babies' deaths

One of the most popular bassinets in America has been linked to at least two babies' deaths, and federal authorities are investigating whether the products have a deadly design flaw, the Tribune has learned.

Progress against toxins in toys takes small steps

When a nationwide ban on hormone-disrupting chemicals in soft plastic toys and cosmetics takes effect early next year, it will mark an important turning point in efforts to remove toxic compounds from consumer products.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

The Mattel loophole

Some companies would be permitted to skirt independent lab testing of children's products in favor of their own in-house certification, thanks in large part to lobbying by the world's biggest toymaker, the Tribune has found.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

870,000 magnetic dart toys recalled by regulators

Federal safety regulators on Tuesday recalled nearly 1 million more products containing potentially deadly magnets, more than a year after discovering there might be problems with the magnets.

Editorial: Protecting kids from danger

Kenny Sweet Jr., a suburban Seattle toddler with wispy blond hair, died after swallowing tiny but powerful toy magnets that strangled his intestines. His death could have been avoided, had the feckless bureaucracy of the Consumer Product Safety Commission acted sooner. The commission is supposed to ensure the safety of toys and a lot of other products Americans find on store shelves.

2.4 million more dangerous toys recalled

Federal safety regulators recalled an additional 2.4 million potentially deadly Mega Brands magnetic toys Monday, at least 14 months after learning there might be problems with some of those products.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Senate OKs sweeping product safety reform

The Senate on Thursday passed the most sweeping reform of the nation's consumer safety system in a generation, including stricter tests for toys, greater public access to complaints about products and an overhaul of the federal safety agency charged with regulating most items in American homes.

Nation

Safety agency recalls 24,000 cribs

Safety officials announced a recall of 24,000 cribs Thursday and warned parents against putting their babies to bed with pillows and other soft bedding that could suffocate them.

Nation

Lawmakers urge Mattel to pull toy

Citing Illinois' tough stance against lead in toys, dozens of members of Congress are demanding Mattel Inc. recall a product nationwide because of concerns over high amounts of the harmful metal.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Ty takes high-lead doll out of stores

Facing increasing pressure from authorities, a major toymaker has removed lead-tainted dolls from store shelves across the state, the Illinois attorney general's office said Tuesday.

A push to unleash consumer agency

A year of recalls and lead scares in the toy industry is spurring Congress toward the largest overhaul in decades of the nation's product safety watchdog.

NATION

Toy safety laws could pass by year's end

The Senate and House could pass a package of laws designed to crack down on dangerous toys and other unsafe products by the end of this year, congressional leaders said Wednesday.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

U.S. to study toys for lead

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday it has started an investigation into a variety of toys identified in a Tribune inquiry as containing levels of lead over government safety limits.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Magnetic jewelry an overlooked danger

The federal government brands magnets in toys a deadly hazard to children because the tiny, powerful objects can fall out and cause serious, even fatal, internal injuries when swallowed.

NATION

Lead-tainted jewelry recalled

More than a half-million pieces of Chinese-made children's jewelry contaminated with lead are being recalled, it was announced Wednesday.

NATION

Watchdogs flag toy hazards

From rubber duckies to ceramic tea sets, some toys on store shelves have high lead content, a consumer advocacy group warned Tuesday.

California sues toymakers over lead

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown on Monday sued 20 companies, including Mattel Inc. and Toys "R" Us, claiming they sold toys containing "unlawful quantities of lead."

State begins probe of lead in toys

The Illinois attorney general's office on Monday opened an inquiry into numerous toys identified in a Tribune investigation as containing high levels of lead.

China's factories feel the squeeze

Sitting in a windowless conference room surrounded by the remote-control toy Ferraris and Mercedes he sells the world over, factory owner Kuma Gu summed up what it's like to manufacture products for American consumers these days.

Toy recalls spur call for ouster

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Tuesday for the ouster of the Bush administration's top consumer products regulator, as Democrats seized on an unusual number of high-profile toy recalls this year to roll out a campaign to strengthen federal oversight and increase the number of product safety inspectors.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Repair kits offered for recalled cribs

More than a month after federal safety officials recalled 1 million Simplicity cribs for faulty drop rails, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the company announced Thursday that crib owners will be sent a repair kit that will immobilize the drop rail permanently.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

October lead recalls a record

The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday announced six more recalls of products tainted with lead paint or metal, raising the total of lead recalls in October to 25 -- the highest monthly total of such recalls in the 30 years that the agency has been policing the banned toxic metal.

Getting the lead out

In a year filled with recalls and substandard or tainted consumer products (toys, cribs, children's jewelry, pet food, seafood, toothpaste), the notion that dinnerware was somehow safe seemed naive. Historically, lead has been used in dinnerware's paints and glazes -- and still is.

Where do the recalls end up?

What has happened to the millions of toys, lunch boxes and other products recalled recently because they contain hazardous levels of lead or lead paint?

Infant's death triggers recall

Following the fatal strangulation of a 10-month-old boy in Texas, federal safety officials on Thursday announced the recall of more than 400,000 infant play yards sold by a Chicago company.

600,000 toys join recall list

In a year already notable for a record number of lead-based recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced seven separate recalls Wednesday of Chinese-manufactured toys and children's jewelry for containing unlawful levels of lead, including 200,000 more of the Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys sold by a Chicago-area company.

Madigan urges new cribs or refunds in recall

In the wake of the largest recall of full-size cribs in U.S. history, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan on Tuesday called Simplicity Inc. to provide refunds or new cribs to consumers instead of a repair kit to replace defective hardware.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Lawsuit filed against crib manufacturers

A Hanover Park woman who purchased a crib from Simplicity Inc. that is part of the largest recall of full-sized cribs ever in the U.S. went to court Monday seeking damages for owners of the cribs.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION | HIDDEN HAZARDS

Missteps delayed recall of deadly cribs

Photographs taken of Liam Johns' crib by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office clearly show where it came apart.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION | HIDDEN HAZARDS

Deaths spur huge crib recall

Federal regulators recalled about 1million cribs Friday because the drop rail on some of the nation's best-selling models can detach from the crib's frame, creating a dangerous gap that has led to the deaths of at least three children.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Tougher standards could boost safety

For much of the time babies fit in a crib, they try to get out of it. They kick at the drop rail during restless naps. They rattle it to get their parents' attention.

Toy firms outline delays in recalls

Companies under fire for importing lead-contaminated toys revealed in letters made public Tuesday that it can take the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission a month or longer to announce the recall of a dangerous item after the agency is notified of the problem.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Recall of lead-tainted goods expands

The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday announced four recalls of Chinese-manufactured children's jewelry and toys for containing the toxic metal lead, including 250,000 SpongeBob SquarePants address books and journals.

Dollar Tree to remove toys with magnets from stores

Prompted by Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, officials at Dollar Tree Stores Inc. on Wednesday announced plans to remove two toys featuring magnets from its nearly 3,300 stores and put orders for more of the toys on hold pending an internal investigation.

Mattel recalls 18 million toys

Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, reported its second major product recall in less than two weeks Tuesday when it warned parents that more than 18.6 million toys sold globally might contain tiny, dangerous magnets or toxic lead paint.

MATTEL RECALLS 18 MILLION TOYS

For U.S. consumers, allure of Chinese goods still price

Emily Yu has come from Anhui, China, to the sprawling convention center here with a load of factory-made wooden toys that meet what she describes as the highest standards of safety and quality.

Parents cast wary eye toward toy chests

The bright reds and yellows that define children's toys have turned into warning signs for many parents, who are thinking twice about what to buy in reaction to news that a growing list of Chinese-made trains, tops and other products are being recalled because they contain dangerous lead paint.

Toymaker: 3 brands, pails contain lead

Schylling Associates Inc., the Massachusetts toymaker that on Wednesday told the Tribune it planned to recall 24,000 lead-tainted Thomas & Friends spinning tops, on Thursday boosted that number to 51,000 tops from its Thomas, Curious George and Schylling Circus lines.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION HIDDEN HAZARDS

Toymaker knew about lead

The makers of a Thomas & Friends spinning top on Wednesday initiated a voluntary recall of the product, prompted by a Tribune test that found a painted wooden knob on one of the toys contained 40 times the legal limit for lead.

NATION

Toy industry looks for ways to ensure safety

"Devastated" by the blizzard of recent recalls, U.S. toy companies of all sizes are rushing to test products manufactured in China, said Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association, a New York-based trade group for U.S toy manufacturers and importers.

Why lead-tainted Chinese goods slip through despite U.S. recalls

Brightly colored children's bracelets and necklaces line the display case of a Chinese manufacturer in this factory town. Adorned with mini school buses, sandals and other charms, the jewelry sits ready to be sold to foreign and domestic buyers. It also contains lead.

Magnets in toys draw more fire

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan on Thursday called on the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to classify rare-earth magnets as a "banned hazardous product" when used in children's toys.

Imported toys under scrutiny

Diane Brahams was flummoxed as she stood near the toy car aisle Thursday at a Toys "R" Us in Culver City, Calif. What would be a safe present for her grandnephew?

NATION

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Toy-import bill seeks safety tests

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on Wednesday proposed a ban on all imported toys and other children's products unless the importers can prove the goods pass safety tests by independent labs.

NATION

Lawyers spar over role of car seat in baby's death

Seven years after 4-month-old Tyler Malcolm died when his child safety seat was ejected in a car crash near here, his parents' lawyers argued Tuesday that the seat's maker hid test data showing it was defective.

HIDDEN HAZARDS: KIDS AT RISK

When car-seat safety, commerce collide

Most parents never noticed the plastic notch in the popular Cosco Touriva child car seat unless they peeked beneath the cloth cover.

HIDDEN HAZARDS: KIDS AT RISK

Picking a seat? Get informed

If all car seats sold today meet federal safety standards, how does a consumer decide which seat to buy from among the many models on the market?

Questions swirl in toy recall

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Thursday demanded answers to lots of questions posed to the Oak Brook-based distributor of Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys and the Consumer Product Safety Commission related to the national recall of 1.5 million of the lead-painted toys.

Recalled Thomas toys in stores

Nearly two weeks after a national recall of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys, a spot check of more than 100 retailers by state investigators showed that the toys still were on sale in a handful of stores and that numerous other stores had failed to post recall notices, the Illinois attorney general's office announced Wednesday.

NATION

Senator seeks probe of unsafe toys

Prompted by the recall of 1.5 million Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys by an Oak Brook-based toymaker and a growing number of recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Monday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports of unsafe imports.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Consumer watchdog could get more teeth

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Monday vowed to introduce laws to give the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission more power to recall dangerous children's products after a Senate field hearing in Chicago scrutinized the agency's sluggish response to warnings about a deadly toy.

NATION TRIBUNE UPDATE

Safety chief: Monitoring toys is a 'struggle'

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission sidestepped a barrage of congressional questions Tuesday over her agency's response to a string of child injuries and a death related to powerful magnets in a popular toy.

TRIBUNE UPDATE

Recalled magnetic toys still in stores

The Illinois attorney general's office has found stores across Illinois selling recalled toys linked to the death of one child and the severe intestinal injuries of more than two dozen others.

TRIBUNE FOLLOW-UP

Burke seeks to cut magnet hazard

Retailers could be prohibited from selling toys that contain potentially hazardous magnets under a proposal introduced Wednesday by Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), who said he learned about the problem from a recent Tribune investigation.

Durbin launches toy investigation

Reacting to a Tribune series, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Tuesday began investigating the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's response to warnings about a dangerous toy.

EDITORIAL

Lethal toys, curious tots

Penny and Ken Sweet did everything right when they gave two sets of Magnetix building toys to their son Ben for his 10th birthday in November 2005. Aware that the brightly colored plastic pieces could be a choking hazard, they kept their 20-month-old son Kenny Jr. away from the toy. Their older children were allowed to play with it only in the family room and had to put it away when they were finished. The Sweets also kept their eyes peeled for stray pieces left on the carpet.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Congressman calls for toy recall investigation

Rep. Bobby Rush, responding to a Tribune series, called Monday for an investigative hearing on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's sluggish response to warnings about a dangerous toy that later killed a child.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Major retailers pull magnet toy

Responding to a Tribune investigation, some major retailers over the weekend suspended sales of Magnetix toys linked to one death and 27 intestinal injuries.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Finger-pointing furious in deal gone sour

Magnetix building sets were such hot sellers for Rose Art Industries that a rival toymaker bought the family-owned company. Now the legacy of that toy is haunting Mega Brands, the Canadian firm that purchased Rose Art.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Feds delay action on other toy; kids burned

The government's failure to police Rose Art's troubled Magnetix toys was not an isolated case of dithering.