We think the whole lead paint thing may have just jumped the shark. Nordstrom is recalling its line of “Fab” girl’s shoes, because the outer sole contains an amount of lead over the federal lead paint standard. We’re talking about shoes that go all the way up to a big kids size 7, are children that age really sticking their shoes in their mouths? Petter safe than sorry, we guess.

The shoe styles included are “Clarice-Fab”, “Eva-Fab”, “Fern-Fab”, “Lilly-Fab”, “Rita-Fab”, and “Vivi-Fab”. The shoes were sold at — naturally — Nordstrom stores nationwide between September 2006 through February 2009 for between $35 - $45. Parents are being urged to rip these shoes right off their little one’s feet and take them back to Nordstrom for a full refund or exchange.

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About 2,600 Shakespeare Casting Game and Fish Kit have been manufactured and distributed since November of 2008. A recall was issued on March 12, 2009 for high content lead containing paint on the surface. These toys were manufactured in China and distributed by a company in South Carolina. If you have this toy, the distributer, Pure Fishing, will replace the product for free if you call 800-466-5643 EST during business hours or by visiting their website at www.purefishing.com

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It’s funny! It’s realistic! It’s poisonous!

The latest lead-tainted toy from the Far East is OKK Trading’s Mini-Televisor toy TV. Sold on OKK Trading’s website for about a buck, the toy is being recalled because it contains excessive amount of lead paint, and violates federal standards. Consumers are being advised to immediately remove the toy from their childrens’ grubby little grasp and contact OKK Trading for a refund or exchange.

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We’re starting to think that maybe you should stay away from dollar store toys all together. The latest lead-laden plaything is a toy xylophone from King Import Warehouse. The xylophones are being recalled because they are in violation of the lead paint standard. We know what you’re saying — “How can a cheaply produced toy made in China contain lead?” Shocking, isn’t it.

The toy was sold at various dollar stores in Texas between December 2007 through February 2008. The price of the toy? Take a wild guess. You should take this toy away from your kids immediately and either discard or bring back to place of purchase for an exchange (yeah, that sounds like a good idea). Any questions, consumers can call King Import Warehouse collect at 972-241-5464.

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The Master Toys and Novelties company have mastered putting lead paint on their Little Rider toys. Paint on certain parts of the toy exceed recommended lead levels, which as we all know by now can be hazardous to children if the paint flakes and is ingested even in small quantities.

About 6,000 of these toys were sold between April 2007 and January 2008 nationwide in dollar stores for $5-$7 (wait a minute…). Parents are being advised to rip those suckers right out of their kid’s hands and return it to where they bought it for a refund. More information about this recall can be found on the Master Toys website.

You’ll never guess where they were made.

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We’ll admit that sometimes when certain items are recalled for lead paint, we question anyone chewing on said item in the first place. But then there are slam dunks like these “Hillbilly Teeth” from Funtastic that, you know, go directly in your kid’s mouth, so it might be a good idea to make them lead free!

We always thought these were incredibly gross and unsanitary to begin with, so we’re glad for a good reason to get rid of them. About 26,000 of these Appalachian-resident-insulting gems were sold between March 2005 and March 2008 at grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, etc., etc., nationwide. The manufacturer advises taking the fake teeth away from children immediately and contacting Funtastic for information about a refund. But you may want to spare some poor underpaid schmuck at their factory from having to handle the spit laden returns and just toss them instead.

And hey, guess were these things were made? Since everyone seems to be in a boycott China kind of mood, maybe we should start with their toys.

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Out of all the ways warrior robots have to kill, poisoning you slowly with lead paint while you play with it doesn’t seem the most efficient. New from OKK Trading, it’s Passive Aggressive Robot!

These lead paint laden playthings were sold between October and November, 2007 under the “Interchange Robots” label at dollar stores nationwide for, yep, one dollar. Side note: next time you’re in a dollar store, constantly hold things up and ask the clerk how much it costs. They LOVE that gag!

And no big surprise, they were made in China. The robots can be returned to place of purchase for a full refund, or have them conquer the inside of your garbage can. You can visit the OKK Trading website for more information.

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Over at our sister news site, Minor Topics, they are reporting that toy manufacturer Ty, Inc. (most known for producing Beanie Babies) is refusing to pull the Jammin’ Jenna doll from shelves despite it being tested for high levels of lead. What the hell is wrong with them?

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Is it bad that when I first read about these recalls I thought, “JCPenney is still open?” And then what made it worse is that my wife reminded me there was one at the mall down the street. Hey, I’m not trying to be elitist, it’s just nowadays when I think cheap pants, I think Target. And I guess now when I think Penney’s I’ll think “lead paint”.

JCPenney today announced a trifecta of recalls due to high levels of lead paint, including:

2,400 Breyer Stirrup Ornaments — sorry, but they’re doing you a favor keeping this tacky thing off your xmas tree.

19,000 Deluxe Art Sets — surprisingly enough there’s not lead in the paint included with the art set, but rather in the surface paint on the outside of the box.

49,000 Winnie-the-Pooh Play Sets — OK, nothing to really say about this one so I’ll go off on a tangent. How do you answer your kids with the inevitable question, “Why is his name ‘pooh’?”

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Does this seem fair to you? Toy manufactures skate by for years using cheap foreign labor that we now know do not implement the most rigorous of safety testing, and instead of maybe taking a tiny bit less profit on the ol’ P&L, they have instead decided to punish the consumer by raising prices:

NEW YORK (AP) — American consumers will be bearing the cost of safer toys, but not until after this year’s Christmas season. Shoppers can expect price increases up to 10 percent next year to pay for increased vigilance by toy makers and stores after more than 3 million lead-tainted toys from China were recalled worldwide since June. That means a $6.99 Barbie doll could go up to about $7.70, or a $70 child friendly digital camera could retail next year for almost $80

A 10 percent average increase would be the biggest one-time price hike in toys in several years, analysts say. And it’s more than twice the government’s measure of consumer inflation of 4.7 percent during the first seven months of this year.

Can you say hubris?

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See, now this is what I’m talking about — Disney has decided not to rely solely on their Chinese manufacturers, and are testing themselves that the toys they sell are safe:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Walt Disney Co. will begin testing toys featuring its characters in an effort to ensure product safety ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, according to a pair of reports published Monday.

Disney (Charts, Fortune 500), which typically licenses the use of its characters to toymakers, said it will test more than 65,000 children’s products, including items that are already on store shelves, both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported.

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Apparently the United States has struck a deal with the Chinese product safety agency, in which China assures that they will stop the use of lead paint in toys:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a cooperative effort to ensure the safety of children�s toys, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced an agreement with its product safety counterparts in the Chinese government aimed at stopping the use of lead paint in the manufacture of toys and addressing other product safety issues. At a “Consumer Product Safety Summit” held today in Washington, D.C., CPSC made known that China�s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has agreed to take immediately action to eliminate the use of lead paint on Chinese manufactured toys exported to the United States. Lead paint on toys sold in the U.S. has been banned since 1978.

In addition to the lead paint agreement, the two agencies announced work plans for cooperation in four product categories: Toys, Fireworks, Cigarette Lighters, and Electrical Products. The Work Plans provide a roadmap for bilateral efforts to improve the safety of these products, which represent some of the most frequent hazards under CPSC’s regulatory jurisdiction.

CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord stated that the Work Plans show �significant forward progress� in the agency�s efforts to bring Chinese-made consumer products into line with U.S. safety rules.

Color me unimpressed. Maybe I can be accused of being too cynical, but I’m not about to feel safe buying Chinese products just because a communist country that has shown previous complete disregard for safety standards says it’s all better now. While things certainly do need to improve on their end, I think it would be much more prudent to step up vigilance and safety testing on ours by the importers that choose to do business with China. But that’s just me.

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As I was resizing the image for this post my 4-year-old, who has a, shall we say, unique obsession with letters and numbers looked over my shoulder at this magnetic train and immediately inquired as to if that was going to be delivered, and if not, he thinks they have it at the “play store” and we should go get it right now, come on! How do you tell your little angel no BECAUSE THE TRAIN WILL KILL YOU.

Not to be left off the lead paint bandwagon (er, train), Hampton Direct is recalling over 27,000 of their Magnetic Alphabet and Number train sets because, as well all know the drill by now, they were manufactured in China and they have an excessive amount of lead paint on them. Thanks again, China!

Sold between December 2005(!) and July 2007 nationwide for about 30 bucks, Hampton is advising parents dispose of the trains immediately. They are offering to send out a replacement train set that they said has now been thoroughly tested — yeah, uh, think I’ll pass on that one. More information is available on the Hampton Direct website.

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