A recall has been announced for some of the incredible popular Thomas the Tank Engine toys.
First, this recall is limited to specific products made from January 2005 to today.
Now the bad news. The recall is for lead paint. How a major toy manufacturer in this age could possibly allow lead paint anywhere near a toy factory in unfathomable. I don't know how much lead we are talking about, but incredibly small amounts are dangerous. The blood level standard is 10 micrograms per deciliter.
The affected toys are:
Red James Engine & Red James' # 5 Coal Tender
Red Lights & Sounds James Engine & Red James' #5
Lights & Sounds Coal Tender
James with Team Colors Engine & James with Team Colors #5 Coal Tender
Red Skarloey Engine
Brown & Yellow Old Slow Coach
Red Hook & Ladder Truck & Red Water Tanker Truck
Red Musical Caboose
Red Sodor Line Caboose
Red Coal Car labeled "2006 Day Out With Thomas" on the Side
Red Baggage Car
Red Holiday Caboose
Red "Sodor Mail" Car
Red Fire Brigade Truck
Red Fire Brigade Train
Deluxe Sodor Fire Station
Red Coal Car
Yellow Box Car
Red Stop Sign
Yellow Railroad Crossing Sign
Yellow "Sodor Cargo Company" Cargo Piece
Smelting Yard
Ice Cream Factory
Here is a photo of the affected toys:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says: "A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. Toys marked with codes containing “WJ” or “AZ” are not included in this recall." Most of the train cars don't have any codes on them though.
The RC2 website is here
There phone number is 1-866-725-4407.
Here is a PDF file with larger photos.
Hopefully, we will have more answers about this soon. Specifically, I want to know why toys before 2005 are not affected by the recall. Did they test older toys or have they only recalled what they have tested? These toys are so well built, many are passed down from child to child.
If they ask you to return the toys, I would document what you send them with photographs.