Holiday shoppers urged to check for recalled toys

? A reminder from the government: check those holiday shopping lists to make sure no recalled children’s toys are on them.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission compiled its annual top-10 list of children’s product safety recalls to coincide with the start of the holiday shopping season.

The toys should all be off store shelves. The commission worries that people who did their shopping early might have gifts stashed under the bed that have since been recalled.

All the products were recalled in the past year, the commission said. A Nerf football and a Batmobile toy car were among some of the items on the list being released today.

The agency received reports of 11 toy-related deaths in 2003 involving children under age 15, down from 13 reported deaths in 2002. Almost half the deaths involved small toy balls that children choked on.

The top-10 list:

  • 398,000 Bumble Bee toys distributed by Graco Children’s Products, choking hazard.
  • 294,000 Nerf Big Play Footballs distributed by Hasbro, laceration hazard.
  • 225,000 Carter’s children’s mirror books distributed by Kids II Inc., laceration hazard.
  • 314,000 Batman Batmobile toy vehicles distributed by Mattel Inc., laceration hazard.
  • 300,000 “Rock ‘N Roller” baby strollers distributed by Dorel Juvenile Group USA, falling hazard.
  • 287,000 radio-controlled toy trucks distributed by Nikko America Inc., fire and burn hazard.
  • 70,000 ride-on toy trucks distributed by Tek Nek Toys International, choking hazard.
  • 441,000 children’s athletic shoes distributed by Payless ShoeSource Inc., choking hazard.
  • 150 million pieces of metal toy jewelry by importers AA Global Industries Inc., Brand Imports, Cardinal Distributing Co. and L.M. Becker & Co. Inc., unsafe lead levels.
  • 140,000 Allen Iverson toddler’s athletic shoes distributed by Reebok International, choking hazard.