A Scary Story for Halloween

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US retail outlet on Tuesday pulled hundreds of sets of Halloween costume teeth from sale amid fears they could contain excessive levels of lead.

"Due to possible lead contamination, this product (Ugly Teeth) has been recalled," Factory Card and Party Outlet said in a statement issued on the eve of Halloween.

Described as a "horribly realistic Halloween accessory to make your teeth look hideous", the Chinese-made "Ugly Teeth" are designed to be worn in the mouth by children dressing up for Halloween.

The teeth were analyzed by a team from Ashland University in Ohio looking into lead content in children's products.

"Lead paint is a problem when it's ingested by a child, so to have lead on an item that is designed to go into the mouth -- that's what's particularly horrifying about these teeth," said Dr Jeffrey Weidenhamer of Ashland University in Ohio, the team leader.

Lead paint on products intended for children to put in their mouths is indeed horrifying, but that's not all.

The "Ugly Teeth" were one of 54 Halloween products tested by Ashland and his team for lead.

"We initially tested 22 Halloween products for lead at the request of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, and followed up with 34 further tests to ensure that we had a significant sample set from which we could draw conclusions," Weidenhamer told AFP.

"We found contamination in six out of 54 products we tested, which is a little more than 10 percent," Weidenhamer said.

"The implication of that is: if 10 percent of the products on the shelves in these seasonal items contain lead paint, that's a lot of products out there that no one's aware of."

That's pretty creepy. Though not quite as creepy as this:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.

On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.

Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.