J. C. Penney recalls 70,000 items for kids

WASHINGTON — More than 90,000 children's products, most imported by J.C. Penney, were recalled Thursday for containing dangerous levels of lead, a government safety group said.

J.C. Penney recalled Chinese-made Winnie the Pooh play sets and decorative ornaments with a horse-theme, and art kits made in Taiwan and Vietnam.

Totaling 70,400, the toys imported and sold by J.C. Penney all had excessive levels of lead in their surface paint.

Lead is toxic if ingested by young children. Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than 0.06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) spokeswoman Julie Vallese said this round of toy recalls is "the direct result of the commitment that was made earlier this summer of cleaning the proverbial house."

Due to the increase in recalls of lead-contaminated toys, J.C. Penney asked an independent lab to perform additional tests on its painted toys, spokeswoman Darcie Brossart said.

This started in August, she said, and the company alerted the CPSC to a potential recall about two weeks ago.

An additional 20,300 Chinese-made toys were recalled by three other companies, according to CPSC.

Miniature Jeff Gordon NASCAR helmets by Riddell, bendable dinosaur toys by Kipp Brothers and magnetic art kits by Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores also were recalled for lead-contamination.

Also

ConAgra Foods recalled all of its Banquet potpies and store-brand varieties Thursday after the products were linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The company included beef potpies in the recall after initially saying only the chicken and turkey potpies should not be eaten.