Toys R Us Recalls PVC Bibs After Testing Confirms High Lead Levels

Oakland, CA - The Center for Environmental Health welcomed the announcement today by Toys R Us that the retailer is pulling all vinyl baby bibs from their store shelves. Earlier this week, the Center warned that its independent testing found vinyl baby bibs sold at the chains Toys R Us and Babies R us stores with high lead levels. Today the company acknowledged that its own testing this week found lead levels in its baby bibs that exceed the company's safety requirements. The company is offering a refund to parents for any vinyl baby bibs purchased at any time from its stores. 

"We appreciate Toys R Us taking this strong action to protect children. Vinyl is a poison plastic that has no place around a baby's neck," said Charlie Pizarro, Associate Director of CEH. "We hope the company disposes of the toxic bibs safely." 

In May, the Center first broke the news about lead in vinyl baby bibs when its testing found high lead levels in bibs purchased from WalMart. In response, the Consumer Product safety Commission released an inaccurate statement that only worn bibs were a safety threat. "Clearly the Toys R Us testing confirmed what we've been telling parents: that these bibs are an unnecessary hazard and should be discarded," said Caroline Cox, Research Director for CEH. "We urge parents to return any Toys R Us vinyl bibs and discard any other vinyl bibs." The Center recommends that parents looks for bibs made from cloth or other natural materials.

Click the following link for the CEH report, " An Unnecessary Poison: Babies, Bibs and Lead"

The Toys R Us notice is at http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070817005438&newsLang=en