Target is selling fidget spinners containing dangerously high levels of lead in them, Business Insider reported, citing lab test results.
Non-profit PIRG Education Fund conducted the lab tests and reported that two fidget spinners that were being sold by the retailer contained levels of lead that far exceeded the legal limit allowed for children’s toys, Business Insider said.
According to the PIRG report, the legal limit should be 100 parts per million (ppm), Business Insider noted, but the lab tests found that the center circle of brass in the Fidget Wild Premium Spinner contained 33,000 ppm of lead.
Lab tests also revealed that the center of the metal version of the same spinner contained 1,300 ppm of lead.
Target responded that those particular models were not recommended for consumers under the age of 14, negating prescribed lead restrictions for children.
"The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has reviewed and explicitly defined fidget spinners as 'general use products.' They are not defined by the CPSC as toys," said Target spokesman Lee Henderson, per CBS News.
Henderson said the two fidget spinners referred to in the lab tests contained clear marking on their packaging saying they were appropriate for customers over the age of 14.
“As a result, the fidget spinners identified are not regulated as toys or children's products and are not required to meet children's product standards,” she said, per CBS News.
PIRG called on Target and fidget spinner distributor Bulls i Toy to immediately recall the two fidget spinners and conduct further investigations into how such high levels of lead were found in them.
“Saying fidget spinners aren’t toys defies common sense, as millions of parents whose kids play with spinners can tell you,” said Kara Cook-Schultz, toxics director at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, per Fortune magazine.
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