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Spankin' New Headlines

A new report finds that as kids read less for fun, their test scores drop—even in math and science. New York Times

The Chicago Tribune tested 800 toys on the market for lead and found alarming levels in some products. Chicago Tribune

Forget French, or even Spanish—more and more kids are learning Mandarin in school. USA Today

Another reason to make your partner pitch in at night: Not getting enough sleep might be sabotaging your efforts to lose the baby weight. Yahoo! News

Get ready to settle in at the airport if you’re traveling this Thanksgiving. CNN

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Breaking News: Aqua Dots Toy Recall

We thought we'd heard every reason in the book for toy recalls, from lead paint to choking hazards. But the latest one is scary for a whole new reason: Spin Master just announced a recall of around 4.2 million Aqua Dots toys for possibly containing the date-rape drug. Yes, that's right...the already popular toy (which was on the top of my niece's wish-list, I kid you not) has beads that can turn toxic if swallowed, causing vomiting, seizures, and unconsciousness, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Aqua Dots are similar to the Australian toy, Bindeez, which was just banned in that country after three kids were hospitalized. No surprises here: the Aqua Dots toys are made in China. I'm scared to think of what is coming next. Isn't it way past time to enact tougher standards for toys?    

More Recall News: Banquet Frozen Pot Pies

ConAgra Foods is recalling all of their frozen beef, chicken, and turkey pot pies due to their link to a salmonella outbreak. The pot pies are sold under the names of Banquet, Albertsons, Hill Country Fare, Food Lion, Great Value, Kirkwood, Kroger, Meijer and Western Family. According to USA Today:

The pot pies, made at ConAgra's Marshall, Mo., plant, have been linked to an eight-month outbreak believed responsible for at least 165 cases of salmonellosis in 31 states as of Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at least 20 people have been hospitalized as part of the outbreak, but no deaths have been reported.

Yikes. If you have any, toss yours now (!!), or return them to the store where you bought them (you just need the UPC panel from the packaging.) Call ConAgra at 866-484-8671 if you have any questions.

Spankin' New Headlines

Homework for parents: That’s how one high school English teacher keeps families involved in their kids education. NY Times

Why spend extra? A study finds that public school students perform just as well as private school students from a similar background. Yahoo! News

One breastfeeding mom tries a total elimination diet to help her daughter’s food allergies. CNN

California bans smoking in cars with children under 18. Salon

A nationwide study finds that children get good care from doctors less than 50% of the time. Yahoo! News

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Here We Go Again (More Recalls)

Here at Parents, we're always checking the Consumer Products Safety Commission website to make sure you're informed about the latest product recalls. The CPSC also sends recall update emails as they're announced (usually about one or two products at a time)--just in case we miss something. The email I got this morning included a whopping 7 recalls--all lead related. Eek. We obvs hope these recalls ease up soon but, in the meantime, make sure your child isn't playing with the following toys:

KB Toys Wooden Pull-Along Alphabet & Math Blocks Wagons, Wooden Pull-Along Learning Blocks Wagons, 10-in-1 Activity Learning Carts, and Flip-Flop Alphabet Blocks

Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color Blocks

"Pirates of the Caribbean" Medallion Squeeze Lights

Dollar General Frankenstein Tumblers 

CKI Children's Toy Decorating Sets (sold at Toys R Us) 

Dollar General Key Chains

Antioch Publishing Bookmarks and Journals

Click on the links for more specific product info, photos, and instructions for getting refunds or replacement toys.

Alterna-Toys

When Daddytypes pointed out Saturday's NYT's story about the Consumer Product Safety Commission, I was suprised to learn the following about how toys are tested:

The toy laboratory, down the hall, is an office so cramped that the only space dedicated to a drop test to see if toys will break into small pieces and cause a choking hazard is the spare space behind the office door. “This is the toy lab for all of America — for all of the United States government!” said Robert L. Hundemer, the one agency employee who routinely tests toys, as he held up his arms in the air. “We do what we can.”

Silly me, I always thought that there were TWO people testing toys! You know, cause there are so many toys and all, I just assumed there were TWO, you know so if one got tired the other could take over. So what does all of this have to do with the Special Effects Cookbook that recipes for foods that smoke, erupt, move, sing(!) and glow-all made with ordinary ingredients and completely edible? Well, I'm getting very D.I.Y. about the whole world of toys and since I'm not talented enough to do most of the things on the amazing round-up of safe toys you can make yourself on craftzine, I'm thinking singing food would be a fine replacement for playthings. Thanks to Yo Kiddo for finding this cool book!

Update: Mattel Recalls 9 Million Toys

Here's the full scoop: The recall includes 9 million Mattel toys made in China, including Polly Pocket sets, Batman action figure sets, Doggie Day Care magnetic toys, Barbie and Tanner dolls, and the die-cast Cars toy, Sarge. The Sarge car is being recalled because of lead paint, but the rest have magnets that could come loose and be swallowed (which could cause potentially fatal intestinal damage if two magnets attract.)

Click on the links above (which take you to the CPSC's bulletin for each toy) to find out if you have any of the affected products, or visit Mattel's recall website.

I know I've said it before, but these headlines continue to be really scary—mostly because this seems to be such an incredibly wide-reaching problem with the way nearly everything is manufactured in China (and I'm sure other places.). Is there anything we can do, short of growing our own food or making our own toys, toothpaste, and pet food? What's your reaction?

Breaking: Another Mattel Recall?

Mattel is expected to announce another major toy recall today, due again to lead paint from China. According to the New York Times, the recalled products would include die-cast toy cars, but there are no more specifics to report yet. Yikes—this China stuff just keeps getting scarier and scarier. We'll keep you posted on updates as soon as it's official.

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Toy Scare

Here we go again. Mattel is recalling one million toys, many of which are Elmo- and Dora the Explorer-branded. There are 83 different products involved in the recall, which is due to lead paint from—you guessed it—China. The good news is that more than two-thirds of the toys were pulled from shelves before anyone bought them, but that still leaves about 300,000 toys out there. Yikes. Find out if you have any of the toys involved in the recall at Mattel's site (and take them away form your kids asap!)

Is anyone else getting really demoralized by all of these headlines? It seems like every other day it's lead in the toys... salmonella or e.coli in the food... I feel like the more we look, the more we're going to find. Oy.

We Call Shame On Magnetix

Sunday's NYT's had this horrifying article about the almost two year long battle to get this dangerous product off the shelves. Children have been seriously injured after swallowing pieces from this building set, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission which usually relies on companies to cooperate with voluntary recalls (because their budget has been slashed and burned—a whole other story) has meet with a lot obfuscation, delays and other truly reprehensible unresponsive behavior considering that according to the CPSC the problem with this toy is:

If a child swallows more than one tiny powerful magnet detached from the plastic building pieces or one such magnet and a metallic object, the objects can attract to each other inside the intestines and cause perforations and/or blockage, which can be fatal, if not treated immediately. 

This June Congress held hearings on the issue. Illinois Senator, Dick Durbin summed it up by saying “The company did everything in their power to derail the commission’s effort to take the product off the shelf.” Nice. The hearings occurred after The Chicago Tribune published two extensive articles on problems with magnet toys and the safety commission’s actions involving them. The Chicago Tribune wrote the original investigative series that lead to the hearings—and blasted the crippled CPSC.