Wal-Mart - Toys - Breast Implants - and Dr. Lykissa's ExperToxOptions ... ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. 9-19-07

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Wal-Mart - Toys - Breast Implants - and Dr. Lykissa's ExperToxOptions ... ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. September 19, 2007 By Wade McCormick ConsumerAffairs ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. September 19, 2007 Wal-Mart has gone on the attack, saying the

independent laboratory ConsumerAffairs.com hired to analyze four Chinese-made pet toys "severely misinterpreted" the results by reporting that two of the products contained elevated levels of lead, chromium, and cadmium. But ExperTox Analytical Laboratory stands by its findings on the chew toys sold at Wal-Mart and calls its report "rock solid." The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, already under attack in Congress for being weak and ineffective, remained on the sidelines. A spokesman said the agency only concerns itself with products that harm humans. A spokesman did not address the potential danger to children and adults exposed to the pet toys. Meanwhile, the U.S. based KONG Co. -- maker of the well-known red rubber toys for dogs -- said it wasn't surprised by ExperTox's findings because "there are many companies that view the pet industry as a profit center and seem to lose sight of ethical practices." As we reported on Sunday, ConsumerAffairs.com hired ExperTox to test four Chinese-made pet toys -- two for dogs and two for cats -- for heavy metals and other toxins. Toxic burden: Two of

those toys -- a latex one for dogs that looks like a green monster and a cloth catnip one -- revealed what the lab's toxicologist called high levels of the toxic metals lead, chromium, and cadmium. Specifically, the lab reported the green monster toy contained 907.4 micrograms per kilogram of lead. "That's almost one part per million," said forensic toxicologist Dr. Ernest Lykissa, Ph.D., director of ExperTox's lab. "With that kind of concentration, if a dog is chewing on it or licking it, he's getting a good source of lead." The green monster toy also had what

Lykissa considered elevated levels of the cancer-producing agent chromium -- 334.9 micrograms per kilogram. "With that kind of chromium in there you have what can be an extremely toxic toy if they (animals) put it in their mouths. And dogs put things in their mouths. If a dog puts this in his mouth, he runs a big chance of getting some type of metal toxicity that may shorten his life." The lab also found other toxic metals in the green monster toy. "There's cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in there," Lykissa said. "This is not a clean toy. This is toxic. Bank on it."

ExperTox's tests on the catnip toys detected "worrisome" levels of cadmium - 236 micrograms per kilogram. "That's a big number," Lykissa said. "It's a good dose of cadmium." Toys should be pulled The forensic toxicologist said Wal-Mart should pull these pet toys off the market because of the levels of heavy metals. "Or put a warning label on them that says if you put this (toy) in your mouth you will get poisoned," Lykissa said.

"There is nothing good about the agents (in these toys) that I'm reporting to you." But two veterinarians who reviewed ExperTox's findings said the levels of toxic metals in the chew toys do not pose a health risk to dogs or cats. Whether the toys are a hazard to children and adults who handle them isn't clear. ExperTox also analyzed two other Chinese-made pet toys - a cloth hedgehog for dogs and a plastic dumbbell toy for cats. The lab detected cadmium in those toys, but said the levels were "about the amount you'd find in one cigarette" and not considered significant. ConsumerAffairs.com purchased the four pet toys earlier this month at a Wal-Mart store in Kansas City, Missouri. All the toys had a tag attached that read "Marketed by Wal-Mart stores and Made in China." On Friday, ConsumerAffairs.com sent a copy of the lab's results to Wal- Mart. We re-sent those results on Monday after Wal-Mart requested additional information. Wal-Mart fights back, threatens legal action Late Monday afternoon, O'Brien of Wal-Mart's corporate communication division, sent us an e-mail saying

Wal-Mart disputed ExperTox's results. She also said we would be hearing from her company's lawyers. She said ExperTox "severely misinterpreted" the findings. "After reviewing these test results provided to us today on the pet products in your story . . . the results of these tests actually prove the products are VERY safe," O'Brien wrote. "If these measurements are in fact the results, as you have reported, they have been severely misinterpreted by the director of ExperTox's lab, if he is reporting these levels to be 'high' or dangerous. "To the contrary by this

lab's own report, these levels are considered very low and actually much lower than what is acceptable by regulatory bodies in the U.S. and Europe for products, including children's toys," she said. O'Brien referred to what's called the ASTM F-963 - or the Standard Consumer Safety Specification on Toy Safety. She said that has a limit of 90 parts per million for accessible lead in toys. She also said the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has a limit of 600 parts per million for the total lead in surface coating. "By comparison, the highest concentration of lead found in any of the ExperTox tests is a very low 907.4 parts per million -- nearly 100 times less than the ASTM limit for toys and more than 600 times less than the CPSC limit for surface coatings." Wal-Mart, she said, uses independent labs that specialize in consumer product testing and data analysis to avoid what she called such "misinterpretations." She did not name any of those labs, however, and did not repeat her pledge that Wal-Mart would test the pet toys in question. "The conclusions drawn in this article appear to have been based on incorrect interpretations of the data, and based on the opinions of a

person (who is) not an expert in consumer product testing," said O'Brien, who did not stiuplate that she has any scientific credentials. Idle threats O'Brien demanded the story be withdrawn and threatened legal action if it was not. "Ms. O'Brien should go back to school and learn how to be a responsible and effective public affairs executive," said R. Hood, ConsumerAffairs.com's president and editor in chief. "Threatening the press with legal action is not a very good way to present your company's point of view." "If Wal-Mart wants to sue us, we will meet them

in any court in the land and we look forward to what we will find in the discovery process," Hood said. "Until then, they should act like responsible corporate citizens instead of trying to silence consumer outlets with playground-bully tactics." "Meanwhile, we will be gathering evidence on the harm inflicted on pets, children and adults by toxic imports," he said. "America's largest retailer owes more to its customers than trying to goon-squad its critics into silence." Expert testimony Despite Wal-Mart's slurs on his credentials, Dr. Lykissa is an expert at consumer product testing, according to ExperTox.

"He has done so much testing on the Dow breast implants and that's a product," said Donna Coneley, ExperTox's lab manager. "Wal-Mart can do its own research and see how long he's been involved in that testing. It goes back to the first claims on silicone breast implant poisoning. "We also do such a wide variety of testing in this lab because we have the latest technology for doing heavy metal analysis," she said, referring to the lab'sICP-MS -- or Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Lykissa said the lab used that machine to test the four pet toys.

"These (toxic) materials came off the toys freely, like with the lick of the tongue from a dog or cat," he told us. "They were readily liberated from these toys. We didn't take a sledge hammer and pound on them. I just did what a dog or cat would do by licking it. That's why this is so serious." Toxicologists at the lab cut off a small piece from each of the toys, weighed the samples, and put them in acidic water. "We left the samples for a while and then heated them up to body temperature," Lykissa said. "Then we put them in (the ICP-MS) and that machine told us

this is lead and this is chromium .... "We didn't dissolve the toys," he added. "These materials were leeching off the toys. Whatever leeched off the toys is what I'm reporting to you. The material came right off. Somebody's saliva or the sweat in their hands would freely pick up these materials. And that's absorbing it. If you ate the materials, like a dog might, it would be worse." But pet toys aren't the only consumer products ExperTox has tested. "We have so many companies all over the world that come to us for tests," Coneley said. "We've tested Mexican-made

medications to see if they have the same amount of medicine as those made in America. We've also tested silicone breast implants, pet foods and treats, and we tested toys for kids a couple of years ago." Consumers, she said, can trust ExperTox's findings. "We stand by our results. We can guarantee they're rock solid." ExperTox, however, doesn't look at ASTM or CPSC limits during its testing procedures, Coneley told us today. "We simply pour out our results as we receive them. We don't look at the limits on products. If Wal-Mart says the limits are less, than I believe them." Consumers decide But ExperTox's test results, Coneley said, give consumers the tools to make more informed decisions. "That's what this is all about, giving people more information that I feel will help them make a better choice. If a vet says he think our results are extremely low numbers than people can take that information and balance it against what Dr. Lykissa said to make a better decision." What about Wal-Mart's argument that the CPSC limits for lead in surface coatings are 600 times less than the amount (of lead) detected in the green monster toy? "I've never seen a dog lick lead paint," Coneley said. "If someone wants to give a dog a toy with those levels (of lead) that's their choice and I'm not going to argue with that. "But in our opinion, that level of lead (907.4 micrograms per kilogram) is considered elevated and there are other choices (for pet owners). My choice would be to go with a more natural treat. I would not go with one that had elevated levels of chromium, lead, or cadmium. What you're doing (with

this testing) gives consumers more choices on what to purchase for their animals." Coneley said Wal-Mart's harsh criticism of the lab's findings -- and its interpretations -- aren't surprising. "We've had that argument before from major companies that we've misinterpreted the results," she said. "But we've never been found liable of that. We get this defensiveness every time there is a question about a sample we test. And the larger the company, the more aggressive and defensive they are. This is consistent with what I've seen. It's textbook for a large corporation." But the lab's test results -- and the science behind them -- don't lie, Coneley said. "These are actual, valid numbers. Whether or not they're toxic to a dog (or cat) is left to interpretation. All we can do is give our opinion and cooperate with the Food and Drug Administration or other governmental agency, which we've done many time." Results not surprising Meanwhile, the Colorado-based company that makes KONG toys for pets said ExperTox's findings weren't shocking. "It does not surprise me to hear of your laboratory results as there are many companies that

view pet industry as a profit center and seem to lose sight of ethical practices," said Chuck Costello, director of marketing for the KONG Company. There are no governmental controls over these products, he said. "As far as I know there is no U.S. regulatory body that oversees pet toy imports or domestic pet toys," he said, adding his company's products are made from FDA approved materials and routinely tested for product safety. The company's safety standards, he said, are more

rigorous for the three KONG toys made in China - Air KONG (tennis ball toys), KONG Plush, and KONG Wubba. "All imported KONG product lines are tested by independent laboratories, once in China and again in the U.S. to prove they are safe and non-toxic," he said. "Once products are received in the KONG warehouse they are again subjected to strict KONG quality control procedures." PetSmart told us on Monday that it also routinely tests its pet toys for toxins.

"We do a lot of random testing of toys and other products," said Bruce , the company's director of external communications. "And to my knowledge we have never found any issues relative to this -- particularly with lead -- with the levels being above the ones established by the government. They fall well below those levels." He added: "We expect that the people who are providing us with supplies -- our vendors and manufacturers -- are meeting U.S. governmental regulations. But in addition to that, we randomly pick toys for dogs and cats and test them for lead and other toxins." The CPSC told us late today that it only regulates products -- including toys -- that hurt humans. The agency didn't say if that includes pet toys that could be handled by humans. The FDA also told us it has no regulatory power over toys for dogs and cats. As we reported, Dr. Lykissa said the heavy metals his lab found in the pet toys -- lead, chromium, and cadmium -- are potentially toxic. Lead, he said, goes to the brain and causes learning disorders in

children. "It's also implicated in high instances of heart attacks. It is a very heavy metal." Chromium, he said, is a cancer-producing agent. "It can cause cancer in the bladder and kidneys, and if it's inhaled, cause cancer in the lungs. There's nothing good about chromium. "And cadmium is a horrible thing to get into the body. It creates havoc in the joints, kidneys, and lungs," he added. "That catnip toy has 236 (micrograms per kilograms) of cadmium. That's something that somebody out there ought to be worried about. In my business, if you're going to sit there and let dogs and cats play with a toy that has heavy metals freely released from it -- and put it in their mouths - it becomes a concern."

But veterinarians who reviewed ExperTox's results disagree. "I don't see any of those numbers being a toxicity concern for dogs or cats," said Dr. Mike of the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. "Latex paint can contain one-half to one percent of lead, which is 10,000 parts per million. What he (Dr. Lykissa) is saying is that one part per million is a risk. But latex paint is 10,000 times higher than that and we don't recognize latex paint as a toxicity risk to dogs and cats.

"I disagree with the interpretation that's being made (by Lykissa)," added Dr. , who holds a Ph.D. in toxicology. "I consider these to be extremely low numbers and they are not a toxicological concern for pet owners." Dr. Fred Oehme at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine said the risks to dogs and cats from these toys depends on how much of the heavy metals are absorbed in their bodies. "Could

they be harmful? The poisoning depends on how much is taken into their systems. Most animals require 30 parts per million of their total daily diet before you get into a problem with lead. Cadmium is more than that." What to do? Should pet owners be wary of these toys? "I think they're a potential hazard - just like a car can be a potential hazard," said Dr. Oehme, a professor of toxicology, pathobiology, medicine, and physiology. "The hazard in this case implies how the compound is being used and its availability. "I'm more concerned about the lead than the

other two (heavy metals)," he added. "Lead accumulates and if it gets into the body, it builds up." Pet owners who've read our story say they're "horrified" by Expertox's findings. One pet owner even called on consumers to stop buying chew toys made in China. "These lab results are very disturbing," said Doris B., of Columbus, Georgia." And she doesn't have a dog or a cat. Her pet is a ferret. "If I had a dog or cat, I would be mad as H-E-L-L." Doris said pet owners aren't the only ones who should be concerned about ExperTox's findings. Parents should be worried, too. "There are children playing with their pets and their pets' toys," she said, "and sometimes small children will put their pet's toys in their mouths. "Somebody ought to care enough to do something about this."

Consumers can take action by refusing to buy pet toys made in China, said Kathy K. of Northville, Michigan. "The recent story that came out in ConsumerAffairs.com about pet toys from China purchased at Wal-Mart containing lead and other toxins is the 'tip of the iceberg'," she said. "It is likely that most pet toys from China contain things that are bad for our pets -- just as so many things from China are bad for humans. We have decided not to purchase any more pet toys made in China. We think everyone should pay more attention to this and refuse to purchase any pet toys that are made in China." Kathy said her family's dog became sick after playing with a chew toy made in China. "Our Boston Terrier kept throwing up and we finally narrowed it down to the toy squirrel we had purchased for her. After

looking at the label and noting it was 'Made in China' we then looked at all the other pet toys we've purchased. Every single one said 'Made in China.' "Once we took the toy squirrel away from her toy box, she stopped throwing up," Kathy added. "We tried giving it back to her and she started throwing up again . . . pet toys from China are harming and perhaps killing our pets. More studies and investigations into pet toys made in China should be performed and warnings should go out to the general public to

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