December 4, 2007

Tom DeLuca/Al Kaufman

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Toys “R” Us, Inc. Headquarters
One Geoffrey Way
Wayne, NJ 07480-2030

Attn Mr. DeLuca/Mr. Kaufman:

We are writing to ask that you immediately remove from sale all Planet Toys’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation™ Fingerprint Examination Kits due to recent test results finding dangerous levels of asbestos in powders contained in some sample kits. We fully recognize that retailers are not responsible for contamination in products like this. But at the same time, retailers are uniquely positioned to take quick, proactive steps to protect the public from hazardous consumer products. The CSI kits should be kept off the shelves until further tests of a representative sample of the product, using the most sensitive methods available, can validate the initial test results.

Tests for asbestos in the CSI kits were commissioned by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), and conducted between June and October of 2007 by certified labs using state of the art techniques. I have attached a copy of the report containing the test results for your review. Tremolite was found at percentages as high as 7.2 percent in 1 of the 5 powders contained in the kit, and in 6 out of 8 samples tested. The results were confirmed by blinded samples at separate labs.

The type of asbestos detected in these kits, tremolite, is one the most lethal forms of asbestos, and is the same deadly asbestos fiber contained in products made from ore mined at the notorious W.R. Grace mine in Libby, Montana. Tremolite asbestos, like that found in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigationâ„¢ Fingerprint Examination Kits, has killed scores of people in Libby, many who never worked in the mine itself.

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What is particularly troubling about this toy is that children are directed to blow the asbestos contaminated powder after dusting for fingerprints, which would make it much more likely that children playing with this toy would actually inhale potentially lethal asbestos fibers. Any amount of this fiber in a children’s toy, particularly in a powder that is certain to be inhaled, is completely unacceptable and unnecessary. A single exposure to tremolite is sufficient to cause fatal mesothelioma or lung cancer later in life.

While debate over exposures to some chemicals and toxics may still be ongoing, there is none when it comes to asbestos. There is a national epidemic of asbestos diseases that claims the lives of ten thousand Americans each year, many of whom were exposed early in life.

Please join us in working to educate the public on the dangers of asbestos exposure, by pulling this toy from your shelves as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

• Ying xiong

Richard Wiles
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Executive Director
Environmental Working Group

Enclosure: ADAO Asbestos Product Testing Materials

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Cc:
Liz Kalodner, Vice President, CBS Consumer Products
David Canner, CEO, Planet Products
Joan Lawrence, Vice President, Standards and Government Affairs/Toy Safety, Toy Industry Association

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Mesothelioma is a very rare form of lung cancer that arises in the mesothelium. The mesothelium is made up of parietal and visceral membranes, thin layers of tissue, which surround organs and body cavities, such as the lungs or abdomen. The visceral membrane immediately surrounds the organ, and the parietal membrane is a sac covering the visceral membrane. The visceral and parietal membranes that make up the mesothelium.

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This fluid helps organs move easily among surrounding structures. In the case of the lung, it helps reduce friction between the lung and chest wall during normal breathing as the lung expands.
The mesothelioma is referred to by different names, depending on what part of the body it is found in. In the abdomen, it is called the peritoneum, in the lungs, the pleura, and in the heart, the pericardium. These correspond to peritoneum mesothelioma (cancer of the abdomen/stomach), pleural mesothelioma (cancer of the lung lining) and pericardium mesothelioma

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• As posted by The Center for Justice & Democracy…at www.centerjd.org/  
• McDonald’s Coffee case.  The facts of this widely misreported and misunderstood case are as follows10: 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car having purchased a cup of McDonald’s coffee. After the car stopped, she tried to hold the cup securely between her knees while removing the lid, but the cup tipped over, pouring scalding hot coffee onto her.  She suffered third-degree burns over 16 percent of her body, necessitating hospitalization for eight days, whirlpool treatment for debridement of her wounds, skin grafting, scarring and disability for more than two years.  Despite these extensive injuries, she offered to settle with McDonald’s for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses, but the company refused.  At trial, the jury learned, among other things, that:
  • McDonald’s sold its coffee at 180 Fº to 190 Fº, higher than the industry norm, which if spilled, caused third-degree burns in two to seven seconds, burns that do not heal without extensive treatments which cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability for many months or years;
  • For more than 10 years, McDonald’s knew about the risk of serious burns from its scalding hot coffee – with more than 700 people, including children and infants being burned from 1982 to 1992 – a risk leading experts found unacceptable; and
  • The company never warned customers about the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald’s required temperature, could offer no explanation as to why it did not and had no plans to lower the coffee’s temperature when sold.

The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages – reduced to $160,000 because the jury found her 20 percent at fault – and $2.7 million in punitive damages for McDonald’s indifference. The trial judge subsequently reduced the punitive damages to $480,000 and refused to grant a new trial in the case, calling McDonald’s behavior “callous.”  The parties ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount.

Professors Michael McCann and William Haltom “found in a study that the large McDonald’s verdict got extensive front-page coverage in 1994. But only about half the newspapers carried articles when the judge later reduced the punitive damages to $480,000.”11

NOTES

10 Based on an account by Liebeck’s attorney in The Recorder, September 30, 1994.

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11 William Glaberson, “The $2.9 Million Cup of Coffee; When the Verdict Is Just a Fantasy” New York Time, June 6, 1999.  See also, Myron Levin, “Coverage of Big Awards for Plaintiffs Helps Distort View of Legal System; In most such cases, the verdicts are either later rejected or the amounts are severely lowered,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2005.