Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Because I obviously meant that I need more stress...

Dana over at Mombian has a son about the same age as Scooter. And just before I was going to shut down my computer for the evening, I saw that she had posted about a recall of Thomas merchandise.

Turns out that the surface paint of a number of trains, sold between January 2005 and June 2007, contains lead. Turns out my son has 9 of the items on the recall list.

Any idea when Scooter got his first trains? Christmas 2004. Just a few trains then, steadily added starting in 2005.

My son has been playing with some of these trains for 2 1/2 years.

We've already pulled 8 of the items from his room--sneaking in and slipping them out as he sleeps. Still need to find the stop sign.

Needless to say, heart racing, short of breath, slight dizziness. Anger, frustration, fear. It has crossed my mind that lead causes developmental problems. (And no, I don't suddenly think the trains have caused all of his problems.)

So now I'm adding to my list:
  • Find Thomas stop sign.
  • Lead check for Scooter.
  • Resist cussing out RC2.

7 comments:

karengreeners said...

Yikes, just heard about this on the news. Bee is too young for Thomas (or we're too cheap and go for the IKEA knockoffs until she figures out who Thomas is), but I can't imagine the number of children's mouths these things have been in. Gross. Will you have Scooter tested for lead?

Mouse said...

We're going to try to get the requisition from Scooter's doctor. And then we're going to go buy some lead test kits and swab some of his other trains. I'm concerned that their list isn't complete and/or that there's now lead dust on his other toys.

moplans said...

Yikes. I was thinking of you as soon as I saw the recall.
I am guessing/hoping it is not enough lead to cause problems but it is concerning. What really concerns me is that these are the examples we know about.
If you look on the toy recall lists there are a lot more things like kids jewelery containing lead that I think pose a much bigger threat developement wise. A child got lead poisoning from swallowing a cheap charm bracelet Reebok gave out with shoes last year.
Ok writing that made me feel like I really need to join a 12 step program for OCD mothers.

Professor Howdy said...




Very good work!
Congratulations...



Anonymous said...

Why resist? I totally agree! It is SO wrong!

Anonymous said...

Why resist? I totally agree! It is SO wrong!

(Sorry about the double post! My pinky jumped the gun.)

Mouse said...

Trillian pointed out to me that the company now says it will reimburse shipping costs. I suspect I was not the only parent to point out that wooden trains would not be cheap to put in the mail, especially when your child has nearly half of the items listed.

And we have the requisition for the blood test for Scooter--we just have to check with the lab to make sure they can handle a 4-year-old.