New Year, New Start - But Not For Wal-Mart

You'd think that with all the bad press that lead and lead-tainted kids' products have been getting, retailers with an interest in the kids 'n' family market would be on high alert for any and all incidences of lead-tainted product. You would think. I certainly thought so, until the LMJ team received an e-mail from a concerned citizen named Brad.

Here's what Brad had to say:

My name is Brad and I'm working on behalf of a group called Wal-Mart Watch, a consumer advocacy group, specifically around all of the recalls that have all of us on edge. I'm a blogger myself, and one of my favorite blogs/RSS feeds is a site called Consumerist, which is certainly worth checking out if you haven't already come across it. 

When I was in my RSS Reader this morning, I found something that caught my attention and wanted to pass on: lead-tainted bibs that are still on sale nationally at Wal-Mart, despite the bibs being recalled in Illinois more than 9 months ago.  This isn't a "recall oversight" -- instead, Wal-Mart has made it policy that they continue selling these tainted bibs in all states except for Illinois.

A father submitted this story:

"So my wife and I and our 4 month old baby girl took a trip to the Poconos for a vacation back in December. we stopped at the Super Wal-Mart there (East Stroudsburg, PA) to get some supplies. My wife wanted to get some bibs for our baby. She bought 2 packs of bibs with a vinyl backing so they wouldn't soak through onto her clothes because she always has her bib in her mouth... as it turns out these bibs have already been recalled in Illinois back in May of last year and later supposedly expanded nationwide for having high levels of lead. There were lots of news reports about this from back in May.

After further research we found out the UPC numbers of the bibs and sure enough we had them. (These were: Baby Connection 7-Pack Feeder Bibs UPC No. 01468151077. Other upc numbers are: 01468152705 and 01468102732.) Basically, it just makes us sick to our stomach that these companies will sell products to consumers that they know have high amounts of lead in them.

Why weren't these bibs taken off the shelves in ALL of their stores. Why does a child in Illinois have better protection than my child in New Jersey (although we bought the bibs in Pennsylvania)?"

I really can't believe that all of this is still going on...it's insane.

(Italics mine)

Insane doesn't even cover it. Wal-Mart has a policy to continue selling death bibs? Wal-Mart is eviller than I thought, and I thought that it was pretty evil.

We're going to look into this further, but I think that this calls for a boycott of Wal-Mart, don't you? Retailers need to get the message, loud and clear, that consumers WILL NOT tolerate toxins in the products used by their children - or used by anyone.

You can read the original coverage HERE, and HERE.

Be outraged. We are.

Comments

[Dawn]

Ick. I'm anti-Walmart anyway, so much like the Applebee's deal (I'm anti-Applebee's), I can boycott the big dub easily :)

[Brad Levinson]

Thanks for that!

I'd also like to add/let everyone here know that I'm advocating for this project on behalf of an organization called Wal-Mart Watch, whose blog entry on this is the first link in the post.

[multi-taskingmommy]

I am outraged and sick! We had those bibs for my daughter and they are in our clothing bins in the basement for future use (hopefully). I'll have to go pull them. SCARY stuff! What is safe for kids these days? Anything?

[Tiffany]

Yep..these recalls are voluntary. We can't actually expect that Wal-Mart would do the right thing can we??? It is beyond maddening.

[kittenpie]

That is so appalling.
And totally reinforces my pre-existing refusal to shop at that place. I bet they didn't have any signs up letting people know that they weren't safe, either, so unsuspecting, perfectly nice families in a host of small towns with few options left for shopping are buying them because really, who researches every single thing that enters their home?
That just makes me boil.

[Katy]

I'm glad to have found this. I will be testifying next week (yikes!) at the Vermont legislature in support of a bill that will protect kids from exposure to lead in consumer products. It will be the toughest lead law in the country if passed. I will use this as an example for why in absence of a national law, each state needs to step up to protect its kids. It is just outrageous that companies and manufacturers have this much power. Let's work to take it back.

Visit Non-Toxic Kids for coverage of the this lead bill's progress.

http://nontoxickids.blogspot.com