OBJECTIVE

We reviewed recent reports of recalled children’s products contaminated with lead to learn more about what could be done to inform public health partners about the recalls in a timely manner to assist with broader consumer notification for proactive lead poisoning prevention efforts.

METHODS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff reviewed lead-related recall notices for children’s products issued during June 2022 through April 2024. Recall notices were extracted from the Consumer Product Safety Commission using Really Simple Syndication feed technology to identify and capture the most current recall information. Specific product details in the database were extracted and analyzed descriptively to identify response trends and best practices.

RESULTS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s automated tool identified 30 recalls from Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lead-contaminated toys were the most frequent type of product recalled (n = 11, 37%). Most products were manufactured in China (n = 24, 86%). Products were on the market for an average of 25 months before they were recalled. No injuries were reported. The 30 recalls resulted in a combined number of 914 598 recalled units sold.

CONCLUSIONS

The current approach to protecting children from lead hazards in consumer products could be augmented by timely notifying the public health community about recalls so they can broadly disseminate information through their channels to reduce lead exposure in children. Additional steps to reduce lead contamination in children’s products when sourcing raw materials and components may help to decrease the number of recalls.

Recalls of children’s products are managed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). During 2001 to 2020, there were 317 lead-related recalls of children’s products.1 Although there were generally less than 20 of these recalls per year, the number of lead-related recalls spiked from 2006 to 2010. One child died in 2006 after ingesting a metallic charm that contained 99.1% lead by weight.2 Of 103 lead-related recalls in toys in children’s products from 2007 to 2008, 30 (29%) were of jewelry.3 The sharp increase in lead-related recalls from 2006 to 2010 resulted in the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in 2008.4 

The CPSIA defines a “children’s product” as a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children ≤ 12 years of age, and these products must adhere to federal safety rules.4 The CPSIA has 2 requirements for lead in children’s products that are manufactured in the United States or imported: total lead must not exceed 100 parts per million (ppm) in accessible parts and lead concentration in paint or surface coatings must not exceed 0.009%. Children’s product manufacturers must obtain a Children’s Product Certificate demonstrating compliance-based testing from an approved laboratory. Recalls are a mechanism for companies to voluntarily remove unsafe consumer products that present a hazard.5,6 Recalls are issued jointly by CPSC and the manufacturer, importer, or distributor, but the CPSC may also issue safety advisories regarding specific product hazards, advising consumers to take specific action(s) regarding an unsafe product, or sue companies to seek mandatory recalls without the cooperation of a company.7 Recalls specify actions being taken to mitigate the hazard, such as offering an acceptable remedy to consumers (eg, repair, replacement, or refund) and providing instructions to consumers on how to participate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program is dedicated to reducing childhood lead poisoning as a public health problem through strengthening blood lead testing, reporting, and surveillance, linking exposed children to recommended services, and focused population-based interventions. We reviewed recent reports of recalled children’s products contaminated with lead to identify best practices for informing public health partners in a timely manner to assist with broader consumer notification of consumers for proactive lead poisoning prevention efforts.

CDC implemented an automated tool to identify, maintain, and distribute consumer lead hazard recall reports to support situational awareness among program staff and funded public health partners and amplify outreach. The lead hazard recall collection and reporting tool monitors published Really Simple Syndication (RSS) hazard recall feeds from the CPSC. RSS is a data format used to provide users the ability to subscribe to new content from frequently updated websites. An RSS feed is a set of instructions residing on the server of a Web site, which is provided upon request to a subscriber’s RSS reader, or aggregator. RSS reader, or aggregator tools and functionality, is widely available in standalone tools and integrated in many currently existing systems. The tool leverages Microsoft Power Automate workflows to filter, clean, log, and provide near real-time data notifications for content containing the key word “lead.”

The authors reviewed each lead-related recall notice for children’s products issued during June 2022 through April 2024. Specific information about product recalls was extracted from recall notices captured by the tool, including recall source, category of recalled product (toys, clothing, furniture, food, skin care, other), source country, dates sold and date of recall, number of units sold, whether the recall was voluntary or not, remedy (eg, repair, refund), any recommendations, if the recall was nationwide or more limited, and if any injuries were reported. Descriptive statistics are presented for the variables analyzed. Frequency of the average length recalls were sold is also presented.

CDC’s automated tool identified 30 recalls from CPSC’s RSS feed. During the period analyzed, 8 types of children’s products were recalled. Lead-contaminated toys were the single most frequent type of product recalled (n = 11, 37%), followed by utensils (n = 8, 27%), trinkets (n = 5, 17%), clothing (n = 3, 10%), and accessories, shoes, cosmetics, and furniture (n = 1 each, 3%) (Table 1). The country where the product was manufactured was given in 28 (93%) recalls. Of these, most products were manufactured in China (n = 24, 86%), followed by Egypt, Germany, India, and Italy (n = 1 each, 3%). The overall length of time products were on the market before they were recalled ranged from 1 to 73 months, with an average of 25 months. The average months products were sold varied greatly by category of products (Fig 1).

TABLE 1

Summary of Findings of Lead-Related Recalls of Children’s Products, June 2022 Through May 2023

CharacteristicNumber (%)
Type of product recalled 
 Toys 11 (37) 
 Utensils 8 (27) 
 Trinkets 5 (17) 
 Clothing 3 (10) 
 Accessories 1 (3) 
 Shoes 1 (3) 
 Cosmetics 1 (3) 
 Furniture 1 (3) 
County of origina 
 China 24 (86) 
 Egypt 1 (4) 
 Germany 1 (4) 
 India 1 (4) 
 Italy 1 (4) 
CharacteristicNumber (%)
Type of product recalled 
 Toys 11 (37) 
 Utensils 8 (27) 
 Trinkets 5 (17) 
 Clothing 3 (10) 
 Accessories 1 (3) 
 Shoes 1 (3) 
 Cosmetics 1 (3) 
 Furniture 1 (3) 
County of origina 
 China 24 (86) 
 Egypt 1 (4) 
 Germany 1 (4) 
 India 1 (4) 
 Italy 1 (4) 

a Missing for 2 products.

FIGURE 1

Average months recalled lead-related children’s products were sold by product category.

FIGURE 1

Average months recalled lead-related children’s products were sold by product category.

Close modal

Twenty-three (77%) recalls were indicated as voluntary. Of the 7 recalls that were not indicated as voluntary, 2 were toys, and 1 each were a trinket, accessory, shoes, utensil, and furniture. The remedy provided to customers was as follows: 25 (83%) companies provided a refund, 4 (13%) replaced the product, and 1 (3%) repaired the product. For all recalls, the company recommended that consumers take the products away from children and stop using them. Of the 30 recalls, the estimated total number of units sold for all recalled products combined was 914 598. The estimated number of units sold ranged from 100 to 346 000, with a median of 2700 U sold. Twenty-eight (93%) of the recalled products were reported as being marketed and sold nationwide. One (6%) product was associated with a part breaking off and exposing lead solder. No injuries or other incidents were reported.

Identification of unsafe children’s products in the United States is supported by a longstanding product-related injury surveillance system and open access to the CPSC product safety recall database.8 Most CPSC recalls are voluntary.9 Companies voluntarily work with CPSC to notify consumers about the recalled product and to provide a remedy. Based on information from CPSC’s Web site, product registration is an effective tool to help directly notify consumers (by letter, phone call or e-mail) about recalls.10 Social media messaging and press releases also can help when consumers cannot be reached directly. Additionally, other marketing tools,11 including in-store messaging, blog posts,12 traditional media like newspapers and television, direct smart-device notifications, and notices to public health professionals and medical entities, may also be used to communicate recall information to consumers.13 Recalls are more effective when the notifications are simple and easy to understand and information is spread by multiple channels.9 The public health community can help amplify current recall notification dissemination channels by sharing information with additional audiences so that exposure to lead via recalled children’s products can be prevented. For example, CDC could notify health departments about recalls and encourage them to share information with health care providers in their jurisdiction to ensure that families with young children are aware of recalled products and recommended follow-up actions.

An analysis of data from 2011 to 2017 found there was a 27% decline overall in the number of children’s products recalled for any reason in the United States, and a 41% decline in recalls of toys and games.8 This review also found that of 176 recalls of children’s toys and games in the United States, 16 (9%) were caused by noncompliance with mandatory safety requirements, with the majority exceeding the federal lead paint standard.8 The decline in recalls of children’s products is likely the result of proactively implementing safeguards, such as setting acceptable limits of contaminants in products, setting mandatory standards for toys, and testing products.14 Unfortunately, toy-related injuries are still occurring, due in part to consumer nonresponse to recalls, which can be attributed to insufficient consumer awareness of the recall and logistics of returning recalled items.14 Recalls can be negatively impacted by the inability to easily identify who purchased the products so they can be contacted and provided with this information.

A large number of children’s products were recalled between June 2022 and April 2024, and the products were available for sale for a considerable amount of time before they were recalled. Thus, additional steps to reduce lead contamination in children’s products when sourcing raw materials and components may be helpful in decreasing lead exposure. The steps include identifying best practices to reduce lead levels, frequently testing products, setting goals for further reducing lead levels in consumer products, and publicly committing to lowering lead levels.15 

It may be possible to reduce lead contamination in children’s products through proactive systems of quality controls. A possible model for this is the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is a management approach for identifying and controlling potential hazards in the food production process.16 The 7 principles of HACCP are hazard analysis, critical control point identification, establishing critical limits, monitoring procedures, corrective actions, verification procedures, and record-keeping and documentation. With appropriate training, commitment, and resources, HACCP is effective in preventing foodborne illnesses, reducing food waste, improving product quality, and enhancing customer satisfaction. A similar system of vigilance for the manufacture of children’s products could ensure that appropriate monitoring and controls are instituted at critical points along the manufacturing pathway to ensure that lead is not incorporated.

There is the potential for under-reporting of recalls of lead-contaminated products for 2 reasons: CDC’s automated tool may not have captured all recalled products, and it is possible that other products were contaminated with lead but were not identified or recalled by the manufacturer.11 Data were too sparse to look at length of time products were on the market before the recall by product type. Although no injuries were reported for these recalls, it is possible that adverse health effects related to higher blood lead levels from exposure to these recalled products occurred but were not recorded. Childhood lead poisoning has been associated with children’s products in the literature.17 

To inform and gain a better understanding of why some consumers may be unaware of the recalled products or could not or elected not to participate in the recall, the following elements can be considered for further study: number and types of channels used to reach consumers, number of incidents and injuries after the recall announcement, how many consumers took action to remedy the recall, feedback from consumers, and consumer motivation as related to recall participation. In addition to recalls, it may be worthwhile to conduct future analyses that include publicly available lead violation data. Violations are more common and do not always result in product recalls.11 Capturing violations-related data may provide additional information on potential lead exposure in the United States, which could be used to evaluate or strengthen efforts to prevent future lead exposure.

The authors wish to acknowledge Joe Williams from the Consumer Product Safety Commission for his help in reviewing the manuscript and providing background information about recalls.

Dr Allwood conceived the idea for the paper and contributed to analyzing data, writing, and editing the paper; Dr Ruckart and Mr Harris contributed to analyzing data, writing, and editing the paper; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

CDC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CPSC

Consumer Product Safety Commission

CPSIA

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act

HACCP

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

RSS

Real Simple Syndication

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Competing Interests

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURES: All authors are employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.