Toys "R" Us stops sales of China-made bibs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Retailer Toys "R" Us said on Friday it removed all Hamco Inc.'s vinyl baby bibs, which were made in China, from its shelves as a precaution after an independent tester found samples of bibs containing excessive amounts of lead.

Toys "R" Us said in a statement that the bibs were marketed under the Koala Baby, Especially for Baby and Disney Baby labels. Media reports earlier in the week said the inexpensive bibs were made in China and imported for Toys R Us by Hamco Baby Products.

Toys "R" Us and Crown Crafts Inc, which owns Hamco, could not be reached for comment.

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) in California said in a statement, "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 the Center for Environmental Health (CEH). "We hope the company disposes of the toxic bibs safely."

Hamco said in a statement late on Friday that it applied the testing standards required by California Proposition 65 to the vinyl baby bibs. Proposition 65 is an initiative approved by voters in 1986 to require companies to issue warnings before exposing people to "known carcinogens or reproductive toxins."

Hamco also said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission had tested a range of its bibs in the spring and found that none posed a risk to children.

Earlier this week, the CEH said it had found high levels of lead in vinyl bibs purchased from Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores, including a bib with Disney's Winnie the Pooh characters and store brand bibs marketed as "Koala Baby" and "Especially for Baby". The full CEH statement and its report on bibs can be read at www.cehca.org.

CEH said the lead levels were between three and four times the legal limit for lead in paint.

The New York Times newspaper reported that it hired a laboratory to test the bibs and that it found a similar level of contamination to that found in tests conducted for CEH.