Dec 19, 2008 2:53 pm US/Eastern
Unsafe Toys From China Seized In Florida
Customs And Border Protection Agency Intercepts More Than 3,000 Toys
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS) ―
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The plastic toys were in violation of small parts requirements by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and pose choking hazard to young children, or had high quantities of lead paint on them. (File)
CBS4
Thousands of toys from China, considered unsafe and dangerous for children, will not be sold in stores in South Florida or anywhere else for that matter thanks to a large seizure at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, report CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.
Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Port Everglades Trade Enforcement Team seized over 3,500 toys in two separate merchandise seizures entering Port Everglades from China, the agency said on Friday.
Officers at Port Everglades explained it confiscated a shipment of plastic toys coming from China. A total of 2,160 plastic toy airplanes and 1,440 plastic toy rattles were taken into custody, because they either were found to be in violation of the small parts requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and pose choking hazard to young children, or had high quantities of lead paint on them.
"It can fit in here and a child can get it in their mouth and airway and obviously they can choke," said Harold Woodward of Customs and Border Protection while showing one of the Chinese toys.
The federal officers also made another seizure at Port Everglades involving 1,440 toy soldiers also coming from China. Officials from the Consumer Product Safety Commission tested the toys and determined that these toy soldiers contained excessive lead in the paint and were in violation of the lead paint ban as they posed lead poisoning hazard.
"This type of import can threaten the health and safety of our children by posing choking and lead based poisoning," Woodward said.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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