A toy scare involving a popular holiday item came to a halt on Monday after federal safety regulators denied rumors that the Zhu Zhu Pets had hazardous levels of antimony in them.
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission confirmed today that the popular Zhu Zhu toy is not out of compliance with the antimony or other heavy-metal limits of the new U.S. mandatory toy standard,” agency spokesman Scott Wolfson announced. “We will still do our own independent testing at CPSC. But we’re confident today and can confirm that the toy does not violate the very protective antimony standard that applies to all toys in the United States.”
Safety concerns have long plagued toy manufactures, especially during the busy holiday shopping season. Millions of toys were pulled in 2007 due to high levels of lead, as well as toys that could come apart and swallowed by infants.
Last week, consumer website GoodGuide released a bulletin saying that a Zhu Zhu robotic hamster had a large amount of antimony. Antimony has been connected in the past to heart and lung issues.
After thousands of parents panicked over the weekend, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated on Monday morning that they were “looking into the Zhu Zhu pet toy and we will complete our review swiftly.”
Shortly after that, the safety agency spoke with executives at Zhu Zhu maker Cepia, tested the toy and read independent data that indicated the toy was safe.
GoodGuide retracted their original statement and issued a new one that explained its testing protocol and expressed regret for the panic caused.
“Since issuing our release, we have learned that the testing methodology used in the federal standards (a soluble method) is different than the methodology we used in our testing (a surface-based method),” the group said in their statement. “Accordingly, while we accurately reported the chemical levels in the toys that we measured using our testing method, we should not have compared our results to federal standards. We regret this error.”
Cepia fervently refuted the alleged hazards and questioned why the consumer group went to the public without first contacting the toy manufacturer.
“They accused us falsely of having high levels of antimony and tin in Mr. Squiggles by using a methodology that is not used by any federal standards,” said Natalie Hornsby, Cepia’s vice president of marketing, to the LA Times. “Their testing was certainly not comprehensive and certainly not at the government standard.”
They popular toys retail for about $10 at places like Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us; all three companies said that they will continue selling the toys.
“All test reports we have clearly indicate that the Zhu Zhu Pets product meets all federal safety requirements,” Toys R Us said via a statement.
Although the toys were deemed not hazardous in any way, the panic caused by the allegations could harm the toy’s reputation, said M. Eric Johnson, a professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.
“It’s the worst possible timing for Zhu Zhu,” Johnson said to the LA Times. “When stories like these get ahead of a small company, it can swamp it.”
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