Defective products are not limited to vehicles, drugs, medical devices and other products that harm adults. In the latest consumer product to hit news for being recalled, this week the toymaker John Lewis has issued the warning over four sets of the popular “My First Doll” toys.
Consumer advocates have warned for years that doll pieces can break off of the main unit and be ingested by toddlers and babies. This is the exact danger posed to children by My First Doll models for its boy, girl, baby twin set and the My First Doll bumper set.
In a notice released to media, the retailer said: “The safety of our customers is very important to us, so as a precaution we’re recalling the following products as there is a risk part of the eye may become detached and present potential choking hazard.”
The toys affected have the batch code 1702 and 1703 which can be found on the barcode label on the back of the box and on the label sewn on to the doll. These products were sold in stores and online since September 27 and December 6, 2017.
In our practice we have seen a number of consumer products endanger consumers because of either a design flaw, negligence in their construction, or other hazards. This includes defective batteries, shelving units, dollys, wall-mounted televisions, bureaus, and more. As we wrote about earlier, the high-end stroller maker Maclaren, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, voluntarily recalled about 1 million umbrella strollers sold in the United States. Several reports of children placing their finger in the stroller’s hinge mechanism, resulting in a number of fingertip amputations, had occurred.
Safety regulators and the public need to do more to hold companies accountable when they design dangerous products — especially when those dangerous or defective products harm children.
