Season of recalls

Local toy sales not very affected by recent recalls

The recent rash of recalls has left many parents leery of what they might find in the toy aisle during their holiday shopping. Manufacturers have recalled more than 25 million toys this year. Seven million have been pulled off the shelf since October.

While some were recalled for other reasons, more than 21 percent were pulled because they violated the country's lead-paint standard. In the United States, lead was banned on products marketed to children in 1978, but other countries still use lead-based paint. This includes China, where more than three-quarters of the toys sold in the United States are manufactured.

In the recalls' wake, many people are pushing American-made products. A Bay City, Mich., woman launched a Web directory of companies that sell American- and European-made products. United Steelworkers produced a YouTube video, "Toxic Toys Jingle," which features children in Santa hats singing an anti-lead-laced-toy parody of "Jingle Bells."

Holiday toy drives across the country have been impacted by the recalls. In the Flathead Valley, Toys for Tots, a U.S. Marine Corps project, hasn't been affected, organizer John Olsen said.

"We've been watching real close, and we haven't received anything on the [recall] list," he said. "I think the stores have done a pretty damn good job in their screening."

Local toy store Imagination Station has benefited from the recalls, co-owner Mary Whitbrod said, as people look for toys made somewhere other than China. Some of its inventory does come from China, but the store tries to carry products made elsewhere.

"We bought more European toys this year to reflect people's fears," Whitbrod said, adding that the store also carries Montana-made products. "We try to do as many local people as we can."

Imagination Station did have two "minor recalls" this year, she said, but they didn't have much impact on the store. Whitbrod attributes this to the companies from which the store buys its products.

"We buy from smaller companies who really care about their quality, just like we do," she said. "They're on top of their manufacturers. They want to give us a good, quality product."

But customers shouldn't be afraid of buying all Chinese-made toys, Whitbrod said. The real fault, she explained, lies with individual manufacturers, not an entire country.

"What you have to be afraid of is a sloppy manufacturer," she said.

"China will only make the toys that they are requested to make," she added. If no one tells manufacturers not to use lead, "then they're going to use lead, because it's a cheap, long-lasting paint."

The number of lead-based recalls - more than 1.6 million toys have been recalled since October for violating lead paint standards - doesn't surprise Whitbrod. She expected it to happen much earlier.

"I'm amazed this hasn't come up 20 years ago," she said. "They've been doing it for years. This is not just a recent lead thing.

"We were raised on lead toys," she added. "We've been chewing on lead for years."

Local doll maker Carol Marie Mattox wanted children to have toys that were safe as well as "soft and fun and warm and fuzzy." She has been making nontoxic cloth dolls using cotton fabric, cotton thread and wool for 30 years and has sold them at Sassafras for five.

Her sales haven't been affected by the recent spate of recalls, she said. Customers have continued to buy her dolls just as steadily as they have for the last three decades.

And whether the dolls are intended for play or display, buyers appreciate the all-natural products.

"When I first started doing it, I wanted to make sure it was safe for children," Mattox said.

That's why she selected natural materials and why she sews all the details by hand. Even the dolls' woolen hair is sewed in and tied by hand, strand by strand. Nothing that could be swallowed will pull off easily.

"That makes a difference when you're working with dolls," she said. "The doll becomes soft. That's why I don't use glue - it becomes hard and toxic."

Local woodworker Roxie Jones also wanted her products to be safe for children. Most of her work over the last few years has been scrollwork, but she added puzzles to her repertoire this year.

"One reason I did is because of the recalls," she said.

While some adults buy her 3-D wooden puzzles as collectibles, others buy them for children. Because of this, Jones makes sure her puzzles are kid-friendly. The pieces are large - easy to handle and hard to swallow - and there is no paint on them, just nontoxic Danish oil.

Although some people are seeking American-made products, local retail chains haven't noticed a difference in this year's toy shoppers. For the most part, managers say, this holiday shopping season looks like any other.

"I think we're about even," Mark Schreibeis, Kmart manager, said of this season's toy sales. "It's hard to say, with so many different competitors now, but as far as the toy section goes, we're about even."

"Sales have been great," Tamera Burnham, manager at Target, said. "Our company's pretty forward about getting replacement products out there."

Neither had heard any questions from customers about where the toys were manufactured.

"We have had a few people asking for American-made toys," ShopKo manager Jim Hill said.

Otherwise, the recalls seem to have had little impact on sales, he said. "There's no big difference, other than people are buying other things."

For a list of recalled products, visit www.cpsc.gov.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com