A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status against RC2 Corp., the maker of Thomas and Friends railway toys alleging containing lead. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and is seeking cash refunds for the toys worth an estimated $5 million.
On June 13, 2007, RC2 and the CPSC announced a voluntary recall of 26 different Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys after it was found that surface paints may contain lead. The recall included about 1.5 million various Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys due to lead poisoning hazard. The surface paints on the recalled products contain lead which is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.
The recall involved wooden vehicles, buildings and other train set components for young children. The front of the packaging has the logo "Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway" on the upper left-hand corner. A manufacturing code may be located on the bottom of the product or inside the battery cover. The toy trains were sold at toy stores and various retailers nationwide from January 2005 through June 2007.
UPDATE:
(SEP-27-07) The CPSC, in cooperation with RC2 Corp., announced a voluntary recall of about 200,000 various Thomas and Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys. The surface paints on the toys can contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard. The recalled toys with their tracking codes can be seen in the website. The front of the packaging has the logo "Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway" in the upper left-hand corner. A tracking code may be located on the bottom of some of the products. Toys marked with codes containing "WJ" and "AZ" are not included in the recall. They were sold at toy stores and various retailers nationwide from March 2003 through September 2007.
