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CPSC, Eight Firms Announce the Recall of Zapper Toys

U.S. CPSCChokingMar 19, 2001
Recalled Bug Zapper toys
Recalled Bug Zapper toys

Photos from the official notice: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission · image rights

Hazard

The balloon tongues and the cylinders holding the tongues on these toys can detach, posing a choking and aspiration hazard to young children.

Remedy

Consumers should immediately take these toys away from young children and take them back to where they were purchased, for a refund, or throw them away.

Incidents & injuries

The Promotional Resources Group of Companies Inc., of Topeka, Kan., previously recalled about 105,000 Bug Zapper toys on June 6, 2000. That company received a report of a 3-year-old boy who inhaled a balloon tongue that detached from a Zapper toy into his sinus cavity. He required medical treatment to remove the part from his nose.

Product description

The vinyl Zapper toys are about 2 to 3 inches long, and come in 12 different styles: smiley face, globe with glasses, troll, bumble bee, lion, bear, tiger, raspberry face, fish, frog, snake, and lizard. When the toy is squeezed, the balloon tongue attached to its mouth inflates or rolls out. "CHINA" or "MADE IN CHINA" is molded into the toy.

Sold on

Toy stores, doctor and dentist offices, and carnivals and circuses sold and distributed these toys, from October 1998 through March 2001. They were sold for about $1.

Contact the company

If consumers have questions, call CPSC at (800) 638- 2772 anytime.

What should I do?

Stop using the product and follow the remedy below. Contact the company for a refund, repair or replacement — recall remedies are free.

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