Experts urge blood tests in toy recall

CHECK ALL OF YOUR KID'S TOYS!!!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_bi_ge/toy_recall_children_1&printer=1;_ylt=AjlBTsYpZnQ2lXaLqizKoLFv24cA

Experts urge blood tests in toy recall

Thu Aug 2, 5:59 PM ET



Parents worried their children may have been exposed to excessive levels of lead in recalled Fisher-Price toys should visit the pediatrician for a blood test, experts said Thursday.

Dr. John Rosen, a lead poisoning specialist at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City, said the blood test can effectively measure recent lead exposure.

Parents shouldn't panic, but "it's better to be safe than sorry," Rosen said. A spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday because of high levels of lead in the toys' paint, agreed.

Lead paint can release chalky dust that can get on children's hands and be easily ingested.

While this is the second major lead paint-related toy recall in recent months, Rosen said the overwhelming majority of lead poisoning in children that he sees stems from lead paint in homes. Such paint was banned in the 1970s but still exists in older homes.

Toy maker RC2 Corp. in June voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line because the toys' paint contained lead.

Fisher-Price and its parent company Mattel Inc. are recalling 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor because of excessive lead levels in the paint. Eighty-three types of toys are on the list, including popular characters such as Elmo, Big Bird, Dora and Diego.
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