Zhu Zhu Pets Recall? 'Toxic' Robot Toys Are Unsafe, Group Claims

ST. LOUIS — A consumer group contends one of the holiday season's must-have toys is unsafe.

But the maker of the robotic Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters defended its product Saturday against a study by San Francisco-based GoodGuide that said higher-than-allowed levels of the chemical antimony were found in the toy.

Good Guide named Zhu Zhu Pets hamsters one of the top-selling toys with low ratings after finding antimony, which can cause health problems, on the hair and nose of one of the toy hamsters, called Mr. Squiggles.

The group assigned the toy, aimed at 3- to 10-year-olds, a rating of 5.2 on a 10-point scale.

But the toy's maker, St. Louis-based Cepia LLC, insisted in a statement that its product is safe and has passed rigorous testing. The company said it was contacting GoodGuide to share its testing data and determine how the report was founded.

"I have been in the toy industry for more than 35 years, and being a father of children myself, I would never allow any substandard or unsafe product to hit the shelves," Russ Hornsby, Cepia's CEO, said in the statement.

Zhu Zhu Pets, which retail for about $10, have become this season's toy craze, following in the footsteps of Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids. The items fetch $40 or more on resale Web sites like eBay and Craigslist.

That's what brought it to GoodGuide's attention. GoodGuide CEO Dara O'Rourke told The Associated Press on Saturday that his group bought three of each of the year's 30 hottest toys and tested them multiple times.

Antimony was measured at 93 parts per million in the hamster's fur and at 106 parts per million in its nose. Both readings exceed the allowable level of 60 parts per million, said O'Rourke, an associate professor of environmental science at the University of California, Berkeley.

O'Rourke said GoodGuide's test results, released Friday, also indicated the possibility that some toys contained phthalates, chemicals that were subject to tougher standards in the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act passed last year.

Comments

[kkrimmer]

04:51 PM on 12/07/2009

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM CHINA...

toys, drywall, dogfood, etc etc etc

ALL POISONOUS.

[chedet]

06:41 PM on 12/07/2009

don't buy anything then...

[william whitney]

08:38 PM on 01/04/2010

Antimony is the element we are talking about - it is not found in America - so even if we made these toys in The White House garage we would get the element from the PRC. Not very extensive testing? If it was mine maybe I would have tested the lil' rat myself! Americans so loved to be deceived - "It's not my fault." If you can find a better toy - buy it - I did.
PS. Nobody said, "No" when China was lending us money - did they?

[slapp14me]

04:43 PM on 12/07/2009

ZHU ZHU PETS ARE SAFE.....D­ON'T LISTEN TO EVERYTHING YOU HEAR OR SEE IN THE MEDIA! http://blo­g.goodguid­e.com/2009­/12/7/good­guide-clar­ifies-our-­toy-testin­g-methodol­ogy........... I Hope that they sue GOODGUIDE.­COM for every penny & shut them down.... They wanted to get there name out there... Think about it how could you get your website tons of HITS... go after the #1 toy in america & say there are chemicals that could hurt your kids..... PLEASE SUE THIS COMPANY!

[karela]

10:37 AM on 12/07/2009

This may well be a travesty if the toys are unsafe, but according to the article, only three toys were tested. That is a very small sample to base such drastic effects on. We demand that our kids be safe. We also need our economy to heal and prosper. The hottest toy in America this Christmas would have generated many millions of dollars and many jobs. If the toy is unsafe, then of course this must be done. But I question the rightness of doing it based on the testing of three toy hamsters and then finding the contaminan­ts on only one of the three. It begs the case for a more thorough look.

[Whatnow]

06:51 AM on 12/07/2009

blaming the Chinese directly is not an answer to this problem blaming the American corporatio­ns who use the Chinese labor to increase their profit margins might be a better target for your frustratio­ns.

[MrHacks]

05:32 AM on 12/07/2009

What is really going to burn you up is when you that they were giving these things to sick kids at the local Children's hosptal in the St. Louis area.

Gosh, this is such a mess!

[James Shanks]

12:53 AM on 12/07/2009

Has anyone looked into investigat­ing whether our massive Chinese imports are what's truly contributi­ng to our increased rates of cancer?

[zombywulf]

11:08 PM on 12/06/2009

More Chinese toxic waste being dumped on America, when are we going to wakeup and BAN all Chinese imports. The record is there for all to see, tainted dog foor, tooth paste, kids toys, drywall.

[breeding]

04:26 PM on 12/06/2009

I read an article about this toy a week or so ago. Manufactur­ing is in China, it stated, which is the norm for many toys. When we are going to learn?

[totalliberal]

02:35 PM on 12/06/2009

If your kids eat their toys. Don't give them toys. "NO you can't do that", would be the suggested response, while taking the toy away.

(Then again who said parents are always smarter than their kids? Maybe a large sign saying "Don't Let Your Kids Eat this Toy", should be stitched in day-glow letters on its back.)

[karela]

10:41 AM on 12/07/2009

Either you don't have little kids or it's been so long ago that you've forgotten. Little kids constantly put things in their mouths i.e. their toys, their fingers after playing with their toys and almost everything in the world that they are exploring. Of course we tell them not to do that. We tell them approximat­ely three hundred times each day. After a few years, it actually begins to affect their behavior.

[Jane Cidro]

12:17 PM on 12/06/2009

Your comment is awaiting moderation­.

December 6, 2009 at 6:08 pmIf These little hamsters were toxic the EPA would has pulled these little hamsters off the shelves faster than you can say hamster poop. Let’s put it this way, even bacon can give you cancer if you eat too much of it. Just play with the hamster but make sure you don’t eat it!

I got my Zhu Zhu Pet from http://www­.ZhuZhuPet­sWhereToBu­y.net

[TrnsNtnl]

01:11 PM on 12/06/2009

The EPA is kinda dropping the ball when it comes to regulating phthalates and BPA, why would they pull the hottest toy off the shelf right before christmas in a down economy? EPA is totally political and wont do it. Its really up to consumers to be informed about the products they buy because its a constant informatio­nal arms race between safety regulators and manufactur­ers.

Read cradle to cradle design and reconsider your environmen­t.

[karela]

10:43 AM on 12/07/2009

This group tested exactly three toy hamsters and found the contaminat­e on one toy hamster. If it was your company and your lively hood that was going to be destroyed, would you want a little more testing done?