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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 08/02/2007 : 02:52:18
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Fisher-Price recalls toys, its Chinese Contractor suggests alternative marketing
From CNN.com: Fisher-Price recalls 1M toys
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys -- including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters -- because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.
The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products. |
The company in China that makes the toys for Fisher-Price has suggested that the tainted toys not be destroyed, but merely re-marketed in a slightly different manner. Here are some concept designs which they are proposing to Fisher-Price:
Chelate Me Elmo.
Elmo's Heavy Metal Guitar.
Leadbelly Ernie.
Dora the Anemic.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/02/2007 15:06:53
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 03:41:55 [Permalink]
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Back in the day, toothpaste tubes were made out of lead. I used to keep an empty one in the tackle box to cut into strips to curl into light fishing sinkers. They worked well and the only downside was that they'd make your tackle box smell like Colgate.
Also many toy cars, among other items, were of lead. Somehow, we survived....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 03:59:31 [Permalink]
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I actually worry that some future contaminated Chinese food or toy product may cause deaths on a mass scale comparable to a terrorist attack. And we may be even unsure whether it is the opening volley in a real war.
We've been pretty lucky, so far, considering the greedy disregard for safety shown by budding Chinese capitalism and corrupt Chinese officialdom. With shoddy products as with terrorism, luck alone isn't enough in the long run. Strong regulation and inspection is needed on both sides of the Pacific, and China won't do this on their own.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/02/2007 05:05:34 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2007 : 07:41:18 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Back in the day, toothpaste tubes were made out of lead. I used to keep an empty one in the tackle box to cut into strips to curl into light fishing sinkers. They worked well and the only downside was that they'd make your tackle box smell like Colgate.
Also many toy cars, among other items, were of lead. Somehow, we survived.... |
The solder on everyone's pipes has lots of lead in it, too. Even today.
The problem with lead-based paints is that they flake off, and kids being kids, the flakes get ingested. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 08/03/2007 : 05:42:28 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ricky
| They worked well and the only downside was that they'd make your tackle box smell like Colgate. |
How exactly is that a downside?
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At the time, I preferred Pepsodent....
Of course, it's all moot now -- no lead tubes and not very many teeth left. I am reduced to making the thin, lead strips from scratch.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Ghost_Skeptic
SFN Regular
Canada
510 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 05:54:29 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
The solder on everyone's pipes has lots of lead in it, too. Even today.
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I don't know about the US, but in Canada plumbing solder has not contained lead for a long time and I sepect the same is true in the US. Of course, older homes will have lead solder in the joints. |
"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. / You can send a kid to college but you can't make him think." - B.B. King
History is made by stupid people - The Arrogant Worms
"The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism." - William Osler
"Religion is the natural home of the psychopath" - Pat Condell
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" - Thomas Jefferson |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2007 : 07:14:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ghost_Skeptic
Originally posted by Dave W.
The solder on everyone's pipes has lots of lead in it, too. Even today.
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I don't know about the US, but in Canada plumbing solder has not contained lead for a long time and I sepect the same is true in the US. Of course, older homes will have lead solder in the joints.
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According to Wiki:| Although lead water pipes were displaced by copper when the significance of lead poisoning began to be fully appreciated, lead solder was still used until the 1980s because it was thought that the amount of lead that could leach into water from the solder was negligible. Since even small amounts of lead have been found detrimental to health, lead in plumbing solder was replaced by copper or antimony, with silver often added, and the proportion of tin was increased (see Lead-free solder below). |
And... | SnSb5, tin with 5% of antimony, is the US plumbing industry standard. Its melting point is 232-240 °C. It displays good resistance to thermal fatigue and good shear strength. |
I seem to recall that the solder used by my Dad when he was installing copper plumbing in our home around 1960 was a 60/40 mix of tin and lead, the bars of which were much more silvery looking than plain, grey lead. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/03/2007 07:23:43 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2007 : 22:27:54 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
I seem to recall that the solder used by my Dad when he was installing copper plumbing in our home around 1960 was a 60/40 mix of tin and lead, the bars of which were much more silvery looking than plain, grey lead.
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Actually, plumbing solder back in the day was usually 50/50 Sn/Pb. 60/40 was and still is generally used for electrical/electronics work. I prefer 63/37 because it has the lowest melting temperature of any tin/lead alloy, which helps minimize the heat the work is subjected to, and it makes a clean transition from the liquid to the solid phase, without the mushy "plastic" phase that other alloys go through.
Of course, lead-containing solder will soon be phased out of the electronics industry as well. Seems people are starting to think about where the hazardous substances in electronic gear ultimately winds up after the gear is scrapped. |
"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2007 : 22:42:30 [Permalink]
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Thanks, ktestibios. I'm sure you are right about the 50-50 lead-tin mix for plumbing. It's been a while.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Recall of Lead-Painted Chinese-made Toys
