Lawmaker moves to halt sales, lease of recalled toys

OLYMPIA – Already this year, 44 recalls of more than 20 million toys — all made in China — have frustrated conscientious parents and driven untold numbers of toddlers to tears and tantrums. While information about recalled products is widely available, nothing in state law prevents retailers from continuing to sell defective or dangerous items. And that should be changed, according to Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. She will introduce legislation in the session starting in January to ban the sale or lease of recalled children’s products.

“It’s unfathomable that retailers and others continue to make money from unsafe items,” Kohl-Welles said. “They are in the best position to remove such products from the marketplace.”

Kohl-Welles’ legislation would expand Washington’s 1996 statute on crib safety, which she sponsored. That statute makes it illegal to remanufacture, retrofit, sell, resell, lease or otherwise put unsafe cribs into the stream of commerce. The bill she is drafting would add a ban on the sale or lease of recalled toys and other children’s products, and impose a fine.

If the bill were to pass and be signed into law, Washington would join the seven states (Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Rhode Island and Vermont) with a Children’s Product Safety Act, which makes it illegal to both sell or lease recalled or dangerous children’s products.

“Despite the best efforts of parents to make informed decisions about buying age-appropriate and safe products for their children, the sheer number of toys and now the number of recalls has stymied them,” Kohl-Welles said. “As a grandmother, I know I am careful about what I give to my grandchildren. But when it comes to our children, going the extra mile to keep unsafe products and toys out of their hands is so important.”

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