Just five months after
issuing a recall of its pink and purple plastic oven, toymaker Hasbro and the
Consumer Product Safety Commission today asked owners of the ovens to stop
using them immediately and return them to the company. The recall affects one
million ovens purchased since May 2006.
In February,
Hasbro offered oven owners a retrofit kit intended to solve the problem of
little chefs inserting their fingers into the oven cavity. Since then, however,
Easy-Bake has received 249 reports of children getting their hands or fingers
caught in the opening, including 77 reports of burns, 16 of which were reported
as second and third-degree burns. Easy-Bake also received one report of a
serious burn that required a partial finger amputation of a 5-year-old girl.
The oven, which can reach
temperatures of 350 and 400 degrees, is not recommended for children under 8
and even children that age should use it only with adult supervision. Still,
some of the burns were reported in younger children.
Julie Vallese, spokesperson for the CPSC, said when
Hasbro learned of the partial amputation it decided to do more than provide the
repair kit. "We’re big fans of doing more," she added.
Hasbro is asking that owners
of the Easy-Bakes return them to the company in exchange for a voucher for
another of its products. For more information, you can call the company at
(800) 601-8418 or visit their Web site at www.easybake.com.
Consumers who ask for instructions will be sent a box
and a prepaid label to return the oven. Those who requested the repair kit
earlier will automatically be sent a box with prepaid shipping.
To learn more:
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Posted by: Ajlouny | Apr 1, 2009 11:33:59 PM
I bought one of these for my daughters and noticed that the door to the oven was a little strange. This comes as no surprise, but it's good that the company is taking preventative measures to reduce the risk of it happening again.