Thomas & Friends recall: 1.5 million trains and accessories for lead

RC2 Corp. is recalling 1.5 million wooden vehicles, buildings and other train set components from the popular "Thomas & Friends" series. Surface paints on the recalled products contain lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects. The front of the packaging has the logo “Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway” on the upper left-hand corner. A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. Toys marked with codes containing “WJ” or “AZ” are not included in this recall.

What to do: Consumers should take the recalled toys away from young children immediately and contact RC2 Corp. for a replacement toy. For additional information, contact RC2 Corp. toll-free at (866) 725-4407 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Thursday and between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. CT Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at recalls.rc2.com.

We'll have more on this story — and the ongoing issue of lead in products for children — shortly. Watch this space for updates.

Previously:

• CPSC calls for tighter limits for lead
• CPSC moving closer to tighter lead jewelry rules
• More lead recalls as CPSC moves ahead on limited ban
• Marilyn Furer: Working to get the lead out of children's products

Comments

[michelle]

My son is two years old and he absolutely loves Thomas the Train. He has so many different toys related to Thomas. It would be nice to know exactly which ones can be potentially harmful to him, because frankly I don't quite know how to take his toys away from him in a way that he will understand. So to the company that makes Thomas the Train toys....STOP BEING SO DAMN VAGUE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THE SAFETY OF THEIR CHILDREN AND GET YOUR S*!T TOGETHER!!!!!!

[spant]

For those who are still looking for info on the Thomas and Friends toys that are recalled, this link should be useful: http://recalls.rc2.com/recalls_Wood_0607.html

On this page, it specifies that other than the listed ones, none of the Thomas and friends brand toys are affected by the recall. There is also a link that shows pictures of the affected toys. Hope it helps.

[Amanda]

my 5 year old loves thomas $ friends. I am confussed as to this matter of lead, is it only the wooden toys or all toys with thier little faces painted on. I have been all over the net trying to find out, but alls i am geting is thomas's friends and the wooden track. My kid has 7 diffrent sets of these toys, including ( exclusivly) THOMAS his self. Not one site gives an exact list of what toys. This site in for example says " 1.5 millon have been recalled ". WHICH ONES AND HOW DO WE NOW ALL IS SAFE! Lead is very dangerouse to our kids, and i personaly want my kid to be safe.
THANK YOU ALL,
Amanda / mother of 2

[Peter]

Has anybody figured out what the deal is with the manufacturing code on the bottom of these wooden Thomas and Friends trains? Most all of my son's have just the name of the character on the bottom, e.g. "SODOR LINE CABOOSE," "JAMES' TENDER" or "BOX CAR," in white type on the black paint. Some didn't have anything on the bottom. Only a few had a code, in smaller type and in a less noticeable dark bluish color, and they both had the "WJ" in the code.

[Cape Codder]

Shouldn't we also wonder where and why lead paint is still made? And what about those who were exposed to the paint while making the toys. Afterall they would have had to have been hand painted. By who and what cost have been paid? It all makes me very angry and sad.

[Concerning Mom]

It's never a good news to hear about any child's favorite toy being recall due to safety.
It's always good to be an educated consumer. Attacking the country where toys were made is less than an ideal solution for improvement; rather we should ask the company to be more careful and responsible in monitoring the process of production.

The world we live in is really bigger than we think and it's only going to get bigger. If we let our world goes bad and just the act of blaming isn't going to make the going bad world any better. It's not responsible to call toys made by other countries an automatic horrible prodcuts. It's also hard to believe that toys or any products made locally really is going to help the economy. Improving economy isn't just politians and business/industry talking.

Want ethical business dealing? Perhaps, we should all start with business locally and interactions that we encouter daily. Meanwhile, we can continue to express our dismay to big coporation like Thomas Train & Friends and demand safe and quality products.

Educate our children to be more consumer aware is a good practice.

[Karen]

Maybe we should be conscious consumers from the beginning!
Do not buy overly commercial toys. Do not buy items from China where we do not know how they are mass produced. Thomas is English-why do they let China make their toys? What message does this send to us as the consumer when we read the label of trains in London made in China??? Our children need to know this and we need to not buy toys like that by reading ALL labels especially from horrible toy store chains that encourage such lack of business ethics!

So our children learn real fast how the big bad world works. As a retort, papa and mama should design and make a real wooden train together as a family. It might take all summer. What a wonderful project. This toy will surely be favoured over a store bought chochkey! See how your child will cherish just the one toy over getting crazy over ten of the same they see on televison. It doesn't have to be fancy and they will feel part of it and proud.

Throw the recalls out, get over it and get busy on true value toys. Write to Thomas and Friends, conglomerate toy stores, congress and local politicians to get them to encourage quality toys knowing what is going into them. Make them locally-it boosts economy and if any problems we as consumers get a first hand explanation on how to handle it. Willow Tree toys for example are made right there in a shop and shipped directly to you.
RC2 should know better but so should we!

[No more Thomas Train mama]

Absolutely disgusting. I mean in today's society there is enough working against our children - pollution, crime, chemicals in food etc. and now to think that an age old fully known problem is still being used. This company should be boycotted and run into the trainyards of bankruptcy.

[sara rondeau]

I was wondering because my 1year old son has a lot of thomas wooden trains and what year are they that have lead, can you tell me if the year counts and if we can just check the year that the product was made?

[Alaska Snow Bunny]

I dont get how I can take my son's favorit toy away! I agree there is no business ethics here. More should be done for public saftey!

[Missouri Mule]

How irresponsible can one company get?!?! They should be offing free lead testing instead of offering to replace the the toys. As usual, profits before safety. This recall has me seeing red. RC2 should be run out of the country on a big red train!