In an attempt at damage control after pet food recalls, toothpaste recalls and toy recalls , China has banned two factories from exporting products after the huge Mattel lead paint recall. The Hansheng Wooden Products Factory and Lida Toy Company both

Hello, I am with Viles and Beckman, LLC. We are actively investigating the current Thomas the Tank Engine/RC2 lead toys debacle. If any parents or toy owners would like their toys to have their lead levels check (in an independent lab in Massachusetts) please contact our firm. We will happily accept your toys, return them (if you so wish), and inform you of the results of the testing.

Thank You,
Chris P.

For more information please email (any of the addresses below):
metasaiyan45@hotmail.com marcus@vilesandbeckman.com
michael@vilesandbeckman.com

I ran the house hold lead test you can buy at any hardware store. The James test returned a very light pink (positive) test-red I suspect is high lead contamination.

I then tested the ‘Chinese Dragon’, both yellow and red areas (scratched the surface). The strip did not change color, indicating that if lead is present it was below the detectable level. Not a terribly scientific test, but at least it didn’t come out positive.

The part that has me outraged about this is that we, the consumer, have to pay for the shipping to return them for a replacement. I spoke with the company yesterday and they said that they are sending a gift, a free train that would conteract the cost of shipping on our part to send them back. What if I already have the train that you are sending? She said that she doesn’t know which one they are sending. I told her that I’d rather them cover the return shipping and skip the free gift but she said that this is the way that the company has chosen to handle the situation. I hung up and promptly filed a complaint with the BBB.

And just for the record, James is “vain but lots of fun,” while Thomas is “the cheeky one.”

Of course I’m embarrassed to have this bit of knowledge rolling around my noggin, but if I didn’t, my son would be a bit frustrated with me.

Damn. My ass is going to have to learn how to whittle or something. Otherwise, there won’t be any toys available for Jillian to play with, what with the lead paint and small parts that are the top two ingredients in toys these days.

I’m pretty pissed too, and I’m trying to sort out how much is rational and how much is irrational. We’ve removed the offending cars from my daughter’s collection (we got lucky and missed her mouthy phase — Jane, you really have my sympathy), and have found a company that makes lovely compatible trains here in the US (not that that is always a determiner of quality, it’s just in this case they seem to emphasize the safety of the materials, a company priority).

Here’s the part that may be irrational (but right now I don;t even care), given that we know so few details. THis SMACKS of corporate cost cutting and I have HAD IT. The date range indicates that in 2005 there was a shift, either to a new manufacturer or a new method, that was cheaper and more profitable (I don’t recall a sudden drop in the prices of engines and boxcars). What this appears to boil down to is the dangers of such a distance between manufaturer and consumer. I’m done. This feeling has been a slow burn: pet food, lead, shrimp food, lead, toxic cheap toothpaste, lead. If at any point we have an option to pay more for things we can actually trace to their
damn point of origin, then we’ll do it.

We’ll save up and get the dolls made by the fabric artist that sells her wares at the farmers market, the little wooden blocks from the woodworkers down the road, etc. Costs more. Fine. We’ll either pay more or live without it.

Deeply deepply disappointed, but well aware that these feelings have been building for a while and go WAY beyond Thomas the Tank Engine.

I wonder just how many of these things kids would really need to eat to get lead poisoning?

I’m not saying to not take them away from your kids, or return them…

“That shiny red coat of paint is chock-full of toxic lead, and so is the shiny yellow paint on some other pieces.”

Chock-full? I wonder how you gained that knowledge.

Anyway, I disagree with the messages those Thomas episodes try to communicate but I keep the toys separate from that. The kids love those trains. They are good toys.