Categories: Health Canada Recall Notices
Melissa and Doug are a widely popular children’s toy manufacturer with a particular niche in painted wooden toys. Their products are available in big box, boutique shops and online retailers. I, of course, loved their products, because I would think nothing of spending $30.00 on a wooden Geometric Stacker so I could watch Child* dump all the shapes on the ground and spin Lego on the wooden pegs.
I read that our prized Melissa and Doug “Geometric Stacker”was recalled due to excess levels of barium. “Barium?”, I said. “What’s barium?” (with urgency) to which my husband said “Barium is an element that has medical usages, it’s also used in fireworks….and they give it to you in the billionth of a percentile when you get an enema”. Ah, that doesn’t sound good. So I launched into “Recall Mode” and we went searching for all of the pieces of the toy around our home. Then:
1. I phoned the 1-800 number that was on the bottom of the product…actually got a voice message from Melissa and Doug. No message about the recall on their voice mail.
2. Went to the Melissa and Doug website and did not see a product recall notice.
3. Went to “ToysRUs” Canada website to find the camouflaged link for product recalls which is titled “Product Safety” and found a “Safety Advisory Notice”.
4. Found the Health Canada website and read the recall notice and compared it to what was also issued on the “ToysRUs” website.
My issues with this particular recall is on many levels. First, Toys R Us had an advisory warning in July which did not include batch numbers so the assumption could be made that all products between the time line were affected. Secondly, I loved Melissa and Doug products and their stated safety procedures and have bought many of their products because of their positioning statement. I particularly like the sentence in their safety statement about testing for heavy metals and lead…but that would include barium, right? So I sent them an email in the morning and called my local toy store to see if they knew any additional information.
As it turns out, “only 300 units” were affected by the recall, the product was sent directly from the manufacturing facility to Toys R Us Canada and that is why Toys R Us issued the recall. Since the tainted products were sent directly to Toys R Us means, that Melissa and Doug do not need to notify their other Canadian retailers, because they were not affected by the recall. I disagree with this procedure completely. Since Melissa and Doug are a re-known painted toy company, I think that they should issue recalls if one of their painted products was recalled. This is in the better interest for their customers so they can properly make informed decisions.
You know, I’ve heard several reports from retailers who carry M&D that there have been ongoing problems getting details about their products.