Educational Craft Kits by FloraCraft

Consumers have a right to expect that any product that is placed on the market will be safe to use. In order to ensure product safety, most governments have set up agencies to define and enforce standards of safety. Manufacturers are expected and even required to comply with standards such as those applicable to ingredients that might constitute a health risk if used or ingested. This is true, even if the product is not being used correctly when the safety issue arises. In the United States, that government watchdog agency is the U S Consumer Product Safety Commission. In accordance with its standards, the CPSC in conjunction with FloraCraft has issues a recall notice for the educational Craft Kits due to excess levels of lead paint on the product.

Product Description

The product recall is applied to two educational toy kits manufactured by FloraCraft Corporation of Ludington, Michigan. The kits are distributed under the FloraCraft and the HyGloss brand names. The Solar System kit is model number SS2003, SS101, 59901 and SS2003p. The DNA kit is model number DNA2003, 59903 and DNA2003P. Product model numbers can be found on the toy packaging. The kit contains green coated wires of 14.5 inches in length plus Styrofoam shapes. The concept behind the toys is to use the wires and Styrofoam shapes to create models of the solar system or of the human DNA model respectively. The Styrofoam shapes come in different sizes to represent the various planet sizes or genes, depending upon the kit purchased.

Hazardous Kits

The hazardous component of the educational craft kits is the green coated wires used to connect the Styrofoam shapes together. The coating on the wires contains a level of lead that is above the allowable limit. It is known that ingestion of lead is extremely hazardous to the health of children. The standards have been set to protect consumers from these deleterious effects. The kits are manufactured in China and in the United States.

Availability of the Craft Kits

The kits have been sold by Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann Stores, Michaels and Wal-Mart during the period from January 2003 through February 2009. A total of 930,000 units were sold during this period. The distribution was in the United States through retail and online outlets. Because of the educational presentation, many parents choose toys and kits similar to these. The child has activities that stretch the mind and provide an physical dimension to learning.

Remedial Actions

The wires that are used as the connective mechanism in the kits have a green coating that has been determined to be above the acceptable levels for lead content. The remedy is for the wires to be immediately removed from the kits or the product and placed out of reach of the child.

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