I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

We leave the scheduled financial topic for a public service announcement and rant

Why is there still lead paint being used at all on children’s toys?

A short while back there was a recall issued for a number of Thomas and Friends wooden trains because lead paint was used on them. I don’t own any Thomas trains, but still I was outraged. Lead paint on a children’s toy? What? Who would do that? I chalked it up to an idiotic isolated incident, but now I am changing my tune.

In breaking news, Mattel has issued a recall on a whole host of toys for the same reason - lead paint. I’m in shock. How does this happen? Although we do not own any of the toys manufactured in the questionable time period (roughly May to July 2007), we do own some of the toys on the list (from an earlier manufacture). My 9 month old regularly chews on every toy we own. Do I trust that the lead paint was this specific isolated incident? Do I remove all the toys that are on the list regardless of manufacture date? Or do I let my kids keep them but keep my daughter from chewing on them (yeah, right, okay then).

I’m outraged. I’m shocked. How does this even happen? Lead paint. Lead paint on a children’s toy. What? This is the height of stupidity.

~J

Edited to add another link for the newest recalled toys because the traffic to Mattel’s inhouse list exceeds what their server can handle. Although if you might have one of these toys please try the Mattel link again later because there are pictures there of every single toy (if you click on the “I might have these toys” selection to help in identification.

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