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Disney Recalls Sleeping Bags, Wands Over Lead Paint

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The Associated Press

Published: May 23, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Thousands of sleeping bags and magic wands contaminated by excessive levels of lead paint are being recalled by The Walt Disney Co., federal inspectors said Thursday.

The recall targets 4,100 Pirates of the Caribbean sleeping bags and 8,000 Tinker Bell wands sold at Disney Stores nationwide from April 2007 to October, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

No injuries have been reported, the agency said.

The sleeping bags have lead paint on the zipper, and the wand contains lead paint on pearl beads in flowers on the top of the toy, the agency said.

Consumers were advised to stop using the bags and wands and return them to stores for a full refund.

The problems were discovered during random product tests late last year, when the stores were owned by Children's Place Retail Stores, said Gary Foster, a spokesman for The Walt Disney Co.'s consumer products division.

The products, which were made in China, were pulled off store shelves at the time, and Children's Place reported the problem to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Foster said. The recall concerns toys that had been sold beforehand.

This month, Disney took back control of 220 Disney Store outlets in North America from Children's Place and announced it would close about 98 stores in the United States and two in Canada.

Disney will also take back responsibility for testing products at the Disney Stores, Foster said.

Since September, Disney has been independently testing toys featuring its characters at retailers other than the Disney Store. The move came after the recall of millions of toys by Mattel.

Among the items that had been recalled were 436,000 Mattel-made cars based on "Sarge," a character in the Disney-Pixar movie "Cars," that were thought to contain lead paint.

The subsequent random checks of Disney products at stores other than those owned by Children's Place "turned up a few labeling issues but nothing that rises to the recall level," Foster said.

Disney requires its manufacturers to test each product for lead before the items are shipped, he added.

Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and even death.

ON THE NET

The Disney Store

www.disneystore.com

Consumer Product Safety Commission

www.cpsc.gov

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