CBS officials have quietly issued a recall of a best-selling holiday toy, but have so far failed to use their mighty megaphone to actually inform consumers that there is a recall, or how to pursue a refund.
Facing a storm of bad publicity, legal action, and government intervention, CBS has reportedly bowed to pressure from public health advocates and, after a delay of over three weeks, issued a quiet recall of its "CSI" Fingerprint Kit, after three independent labs confirmed that the best-selling holiday toy contains deadly asbestos. CBS Broadcasting has asked that all "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fingerprint Examination Kits" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Field Kits" be pulled off toy store shelves nationwide. The toy is made in China, where many other recently recalled toys have been manufactured.
The recall was spurred by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), which spent some $165,000 to pay for independent laboratory testing of children's toys and other household products. ADAO is a public health advocacy organization founded in 2004 by asbestos victims and their families. ADAO seeks to represent and safeguard the rights of asbestos exposure victims and their families, while raising public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO is funded through charitable contributions and staffed by volunteers.
Even though ADAO announced the results of its laboratory tests on November 27 -- in an eye-opening story broken by Andrew Schneider of the Seattle Post Intelligencer -- CBS failed to issue a recall for the next three weeks. Then Public Justice wrote a letter to CBS on December 13, threatening legal action on behalf of ADAO if the network and toy distributor Planet Toys of New York City did not take swift and appropriate action.
Consumer protection officials in Connecticut halted the sale of the "CSI fingerprint examination kit" in the state on December 20 after tests requested by the state revealed the fingerprint dust in the kit contains asbestos. Connecticut embargoed the sale of the kits and forwarded information to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. (The agency, whipped and cowed by the Bush administration, does not test for asbestos in toys or other common consumer products and has failed in many ways to protect public health and safety.)
Only after the State of Connecticut confirmed the presence of tremolite -- a deadly form of asbestos -- in the finely ground powders of the fingerprint kit, and pulled the toy from shelves in that state, did CBS begin to take action. Yet the media conglomerate to date has done very little, either through its web site, or through its national news programs, to inform consumers that the toy has been recalled or how they can pursue a refund.
Action: Call Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President and General Manager for CBS Consumer Products, 212-975-7795 -- not to thank her for finally doing the right thing after nearly a month of foot-dragging and public pressure -- but to demand that media behemoth CBS use its megaphone to actually inform consumers that there is now a recall, and how to pursue a refund.