The HomeSense retail store on the Queensway in Toronto confirmed during a phone interview that the Hot Focus Petite Boutique Tie-Dye Butterfly, Rainbow and Glow in the Dark children’s jewelry sets have been pulled from stores in March due to a recall warning.
“It was pulled from our stores about a month ago,” said Melissa, HomeSense manager at the 1840 Queensway location. Melissa also confirmed that some HomeSense stores in Canada wouldn’t have even received the shipment due to the recall.
“When it comes to health and safety concerns, we’re very serious about that and so action is taken right away, communication flies,” she said. Health Canada released a consumer product recall on April 4. due to a chemical hazard containing more than 120 kilograms of lead and cadmium.
Lead is a metal material that is considered common and lenient to work with; however, it can be used in paint that coats children’s toys, according to a journal article from IOP Science written by G Y Al Kindi and Z H Ali.
According to Health Canada’s report, the jewelry sets sold between June 2022 to March 2023 and sold in retail stores such as Winners, HomeSense, and Marshalls. The distributor company of the children’s toy called, Hot Focus Inc, confirmed with Health Canada that over 4,000 products were sold in Canada.
The importer company of the children’s toy called, TJX, also confirmed that from the time of March 24, 2023, no reports of illness or injuries were made.
Nicole Pang is a nurse at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and a mother of two, under the age of four-years old. Pang said during an interview that if companies researched alternative materials to use, knowing children’s habits, this would lessen chemical related risks for children’s toys.
“Some of my close friends in Toronto who have smaller children only buy wooden toys, toys that are made with cloth materials, and colored with all-natural dyes - because a lot of the manufacturers for children’s toys are from China and some aren’t safe,” she said.
The manufacturer is in fact from China, according to the report, however, the specific company in China remains unnamed. Simply playing with toys or wearing jewelry doesn’t have harmful effects. However, as children are often known to put items in their mouths, - chewing on and ingesting the paint can cause multiple fatal effects to children according to Health Canada’s injury prevention report about Lead and Cadmium.
Black paint colors in toys were tested for higher levels of metals, researched from the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program, according to the IOP journal article. This is a surprise wake up call for many parents as “green” toy manufacturers such as Maple Landmark Woodcraft, are on the rise.
Maple Landmark Woodcraft is a manufacturer in the U.S. and creates children’s toys from harvested Vermont wood. Then, toys are finished with organic paints such as beeswax according to Green America’s article called, Beyond Lead: Toxins in Toys.
If consumers have purchased or come across the product, Health Canada advises to immediately return to the place of purchase at Winners, HomeSense, or Marshalls for a refund.
For more information on the product’s description and number, visit Health Canada’s website under recalled consumer products.
Edited by Kavya Venkateshwaran
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