By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com
October 2, 2009
Target Corp., of Minneapolis, Minn. has agreed to pay a $600,000 civil penalty for allegedly violating the federal lead paint ban on toys.
The penalty settlement, which has been provisionally accepted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, resolves CPSC staff allegations that from May 2006 through August 2007, that Target knowingly imported and sold various toys, including Kool Toyz Products, Anima-Bamboo Collection Games, Happy Giddy Gardening Tools and Sunny Patch Chairs), with paint or other surface coatings that contained lead levels above legal limits. The federal lead paint ban for toys has been in place since 1978.
CPSC staff accused Target of failing to take adequate action to ensure that no toys or children's products would bear lead-containing paint, thereby creating a risk of lead poisoning and adverse health effects to children.
In 2006, Target recalled "Kool Toyz" brand toys, including sets containing die-cast cars, playground set, doll house set, dinosaurs, trucks, boats and planes. That same year, it recalled about 350,000 "Happy Giddy" gardening tool toys and children's "Sunny Patch" chairs because the paint contained excessive levels of lead.
A year later, the retailer recalled about 5,000 Anima Bamboo Collection games. The games contained 38 bamboo pads, four ghosts, and one dice. There was concern that toys in the bamboo game sets could contain lead paint, which is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.
"These highly publicized toy recalls were among many that helped spur action last year to impose even stricter limits on lead paint on toys," said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "This penalty should remind importers and retailers that they have always had the same obligation to meet the strict lead limits as the manufacturers."
In agreeing to the settlement, Target denies CPSC's allegations that it violated the law.
CPSC says it is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Reports can be made at https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx.
