California-based asbestos awareness group The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) filed suit against CBS Corp and several toy retailers last week, claiming that the toy-making company had sold toys containing asbestos.

The item in question is a toy crime-scene based on the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In November of 2007, the ADAO announced they had sponsored tests on these and other toys and household goods. Several of the items tested, including the toy crime-scene kits, were found to contain asbestos.

Long-term exposure to asbestos is known to cause an asbestos-related disease called asbestosis. Even small amounts of exposure can potentially cause lung cancer, and mesothelioma, an aggressive type of asbestos cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the LA Superior Court, the lab tests showed that the fingerprint dusting powder in the toy kits contained “substantial quantities of tremolite asbestos…one of the most lethal forms of asbestos.”

The manufacturer of the toys, Planet Toys Inc, had removed the toy crime-scene kits from the market late in 2007, after the ADAO made their asbestos claims public in a press release issued late November. Planet Toys Inc said it had conducted multiple tests on the toys but had not discovered any asbestos.

Planet Toys Inc said that some of the kits had been manufactured in China. Millions of toys, recalled last year, which had been sourced from China, had been found to contain hazards such as small magnets or lead paint. Planet Toys Inc issued a “stop sale” on all CSI fingerprint kits “until further information can be ascertained as to the discrepancy between…respective test findings.”

The ADAO claims that the defendants failed to warm consumers that the kits were contaminated with asbestos, a known hazardous material. Such warnings are required by state law. The ADAO wants a court order to stop the kits being sold unless they carry the state-required warning. The organization wants companies to allow consumers to return the kits and obtain a full refund, pay for asbestos testing of returned kits, and pay for medical treatment if it becomes necessary. ADAO also believes that civil penalties are required.

The lawsuits were filed by Public Justice on behalf of ADAO. Victoria Ni, lead Public Justice attorney, said “…this powder has been marketed and sold to thousands of children who are told to spread it around and blow off the excess. It’s a shame that we’ve had to resort to litigation to force these companies to do what they should have done in the first place to protect the American public.”

A spokesperson for the CBS company’s consumer products division said that CBS had ended its licensing agreement for the toy crime scene kits with Planet Toys Inc.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Litigation, California. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.