Tests show the children's prizes had almost five times the federal legal limit.
By COURTNEY BACALSO
A batch of bendable cat and dog toys given to thousands of Orange County children were tainted with lead, the toy's distributor confirmed Wednesday.
Tests by Highsmith Inc. showed the toys had 0.277 percent lead, nearly five times the 0.06 percent permitted by federal codes, said Matt Moulder, director of the Wisconsin-based distribution company.
Toys Wednesday trickled back to the five local city libraries that gave them out as prizes for a summer reading program, "Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales."
Libraries in Buena Park, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia and Santa Ana sent out notices asking parents to return the toys to their branches, where they can be exchanged.
"We have received only a few, but we hope to receive much more as the day goes on," Santa Ana Library Director Rob Richard said.
The library gave out 360 toys.
Worry about the tainted toys started after an Indiana librarian learned a hospital had found high lead concentrations in the toys in 2005.
The Indiana State Health Department issued a health alert Friday after finding 0.24 percent to 0.4 percent lead in a batch of toys distributed by Indiana-based Kipp Brothers.
Highsmith distributed its batch of the toys to 1,000 libraries in 36 states.
Moulder said Highsmith is working with Nebraska-wholesaler Fun Express, also known as Oriental Trading, in recalling the Chinese-made items.
"Since we sold only a part of these toys that are all over the country, we are suggesting a coordinated effort with all the distributors nationwide to get them recalled," Moulder said.
North Carolina issued a recall Wednesday, and the toys have been discovered in Ohio libraries.
Health officials want parents to return the toys to libraries or hazardous-waste sites.
The county's four sites are in Anaheim, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano and Huntington Beach.
"In talking to parents, we discovered that some parents had already thrown their toys away," Orange Library Director Nora Jacob said.
The five libraries belonged to the Collaborative Summer Library Program. Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Huntington Beach, also members of the collaborative, did not order the toys. County libraries did not carry the toys.
Families returned two toys to Placentia and 16 to Orange. Mission Viejo and Buena Park have not received any yet.
"We have a place for them, but none have come in," Buena Park Library Director Louise Mazerov said.
