Comments on: Toy Recalls: Inside the Melissa & Doug and Imaginarium Recalls

By: Play Food | PhD in Parenting

Play Food | PhD in Parenting — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:55:46 +0000

[...] we have some play food. It is a mix of some Melissa and Doug stuff (oh, wait…that disappeared when it was recalled), non-branded plastic whole food items (e.g. vegetables, breads, meats, etc.), and some branded [...]

By: Yarn Pirate » Fun with Felt

Yarn Pirate » Fun with Felt — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:02:21 +0000

[...] a lot of patterns. I wasn’t planning on making anything, but then I read about a bunch of Melissa & Doug toys being recalled due to toxic paint. Well, crap. We had some of the recalled toys, which were promptly thrown away. We also had some of [...]

By: 生活 » Tips To Help You Buy Safe Toys This Christmas

生活 » Tips To Help You Buy Safe Toys This Christmas — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:21:24 +0000

[...] PhD In Parenting – Toy Recalls: Inside the Melissa & Doug Imaginarium Recalls… Health Canada has been busy issuing recalls of wood toys due to excess levels of Barium. [...]

By: MZ

MZ — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:30:01 +0000

M&D toys are commonly used in Montessori schools, I learned. One of my girlfriends works in Montessori and told me that the issue is only with the red paint. So, if you have a cloth toy or a toy without red paint it should be fine, but if you own another M&D toy that has red paint it might be better to be safe than sorry and just pitch it. I’m not sure where she heard this but that’s the rule their school is taking, and I think that’s what I’m going to follow.

And just to confirm, no one has heard anything from M&D except that they’re going to start testing their toys to the Canadian standard?

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:53:59 +0000

I emailed M&D for more information a few days ago. Like the others, I got no response. I was really frustrated. I returned our slice and back cookie set to the store where we bought it (a Toronto chain called Mastermind Toys). The sales staff there was very helpful but informed me that they had be told by email that it was only the packaging that contained the high levels of barium and as a result, they were advising people to keep the toys and throw away the packaging! When I told them this wasn’t what Health Canada said they seemed a bit confused. They did return the product for me for a “full refund”. But, since I didn’t have the receipt it was for the lowest price the toys had ever sold for (in this case $5 less than I paid for it). Frustrating! What I want to know is whether other M & D toys are also contaminated. And why M & D is being so secretive and coy about what is really going on?

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:18:54 +0000

Another update from Z Recommends: Exclusive: Melissa & Doug answer recall questions, pledge to test all toys to Canadian standard

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:51:59 +0000

Amy – I may do that if I have the time over the next few days, but I may not get to it. If you have a few minutes, please feel free to take the lead!

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:59:56 +0000

This is a good point. Doug mentioned to us in correspondence that they do not list Canadian recalls on their website because they do not sell to Canada through their website. Yet Canadians like Americans will be coming to Melissaanddoug.com to learn about their products. This would be a good point to press them on as the could easily add recall information to their website and I believe if they received enough requests for this, and believed that it was widely believed among consumers that they had the responsibility to do this, they would do so.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:31:28 +0000

We bought a shape-sorting cube branded under Target’s Circo Brand just two days ago. It’s unfortunate Melissa and Doug appear to be very poor coroporate citizens. In this day and age, to not issue a full recall, or any public statement acknowledging the problem (and corrective action) is shameful, and not what I would have expected.

We bought the toy as a gift for a friend’s toddler, but I guess we’ll have to look for something else, and dispose of the toy. I’ll be emailing Target, asking them to reevaluate using Melissa and Doug as a supplier. If they get more resonses from parent’s like us, they may stop buying from M&D, and look for better alternatives.
If Toys R Us and Target get enough complaints, they will

By: Amy @ Muddy Boots

Amy @ Muddy Boots — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:44:48 +0000

Annie, what if you (or someone else) wrote a short, to-the-point post stating our disappointment with the company and our commitment not to buy or promote their products -with links back here and to Z Recommends of course- and everyone could copy and paste it onto our blogs. It would get the story out and show M&D that we’re serious and that they can’t step all over consumers and ignore their concerns. A Linky of some sort would track how many blogs the post is showing up on. Personally, I’m not going to full out boycott M&D, but I WILL NOT BUY any more of their products until they address all of our concerns. This is brutal.