Mini Stars Building Sets are being recalled for choking hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced.
About 18,000 Mini Stars Building Sets are being recalled. This is in addition to a prior recall issued in September 2010 for similar toys: Giant Starbuilder and Giant Stars Building Sets. That recall notice can be accessed at: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10346.html.
The Mini Stars Building Sets were manufactured in China; distributed by Edushape Ltd., of Deer Park, New York; and sold at small retail stores nationwide, online at Toys R Us.com, Amazon.com, and CSN on walmart.com from January 2007 through December 2009 for between $10 and $50.
The plastic knobs can break from the center of the stars, posing a choking hazard to young children. To date, the CPSC and Edushape have received two reports of the knobs breaking off from the center of the stars. No injuries have been reported.
This recall involves Mini Stars building sets. The Mini Stars measure 3 inches in diameter and are made of opaque plastic. Each star has 6 circular knobs protruding from a ring-shaped center. Edushape only makes Mini Stars in red, green, yellow, or blue colors which are included in this recall. The Mini Stars have no markings, codes, or logos stamped into the plastic and were sold in sets of 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 pieces.
The CPSC is advising consumers to immediately take the recalled Mini Star building sets away from children and to contact Edushape for a free replacement set or credit towards another Edushape product of equal or lesser value. Edushape can be reached, toll-free, at 1.800.404.4744 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday, or at the firm’s website at www.edushape.com.
The previously recalled 13,500 Giant Starbuilder and Giant Stars building sets were made in China; distributed by Edushape Ltd., of Deer Park, New York; and sold at small retail stores nationwide and online at Target.com, Toys R Us.com, Amazon.com, and CSN through Walmart Marketplace from January 2007 through May 2010 for between $25 and $35.
In that case, as well, the plastic knobs could break from the center of the star, posing a choking hazard to young children. The CPSC and Edushape received three reports of knobs breaking off from the center of the star at the time of the recall, which included all Giant Starbuilders and Giant Stars building sets. The giant stars measure 5 inches in diameter and are made of opaque plastic. Each star has 6 knobs protruding from a ring-shaped center. The Giant Starbuilder set contains red, green, yellow, and blue stars; the Giant Star building set contains red, green, yellow, blue, orange, and pink stars.
