Zhu Zhu Pets are Safe, CPSC Says

Santa’s elves can continue cranking out Zhu Zhu Pets at the North Pole, product safety officials said, one day after a consumers’ rights website claimed one of this year’s holiday must-have gifts contained potentially dangerous levels of a toxic heavy metal.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said the popular mechanical pet hamster toys are safe and in line with federal safety standards for children’s toys, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

“The Consumer Product Safety Commission confirmed today that the popular Zhu Zhu toy is not out of compliance with the antimony or other heavy-metal limits of the new U.S. mandatory toy standard,” agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said.

The CPSC plans to do its own independent testing of the Zhu Zhu pet in question, but Wolfson said “we’re confident today and can confirm that the toy does not violate the very protective antimony standard that applies to all toys in the United States,” according to the Times.

The GoodGuide website announced last week that its testing had found one of the Zhu Zhu pets, called Mr. Squiggles, contained levels of the element antimony that far exceeded federal safety standards. The news sent a shock wave through parents who are doing holiday shopping for young ones who may have the popular toys on their Christmas lists.

Zhu Zhu pets sell for about $10 at major retail stores including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Toxic exposure to lead and other chemicals in children’s toys and clothing are linked to scores of injuries and deaths each year. Children who ingest lead or other harmful materials may develop cancer, neurological disorders, and other health complications.

Exposure to antimony, which is used in making metal alloys, has been linked to heart and lung problems, the Times said.

The CPSC said it followed up on GoodGuide’s report about the potential dangers of the Zhu Zhu toys and found they do not contain dangerous levels of antimony.

Officials from GoodGuide later explained that their internal testing of the Zhu Zhu toys did not meet federal testing standards and apologized for comparing its data to those stricter guidelines.

“Since issuing our release, we have learned that the testing methodology used in the federal standards (a soluble method) is different than the methodology we used in our testing (a surface-based method),” the San Francisco-based consumer group said in a statement. “Accordingly, while we accurately reported the chemical levels in the toys that we measured using our testing method, we should not have compared our results to federal standards. We regret this error.”

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