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  • 2017-06-03 (xsd:date)
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  • Do 'Fidget Spinners' Contain Deadly Amounts of Lead? (en)
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  • Several articles concerning the alleged dangers of lead in fidget spinners were published by web sites such as American Freedom Fighters and The Federalist Papers in June 2017 under clickbait, fear-mongering headlines such as ALERT: Throw Away All 'Fidget Spinners' NOW — Authorities Release New Report Confirming They Can KILL Your Child. These headlines contained several pieces of misinformation. First, the referenced new report did not issue from authorities such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or the Food and Drug Administration. Rather, it came from a Facebook video and subsequent posts published by Tamara Rubin, a lead-poisoning prevention advocate and documentary filmmaker: Rubin tested several brands of fidget spinners and claimed that she found unusual amounts of lead in a few of them. Although we have not been able to verify her test results (her study has not been replicated or peer-reviewed), we can say that the results of her study were not in line with the fear-mongering articles published about them. For starters, Rubin did not say that all fidget spinners contain high amounts of lead; rather, she told Inhabitat that after testing eleven fidget spinners, she found only two that allegedly contained unsafe levels of lead: Rubin also commented on the fear-mongering headlines published about her tests, saying that they were increasingly dramatic: Rubin never claimed that all fidget spinners contain dangerous amounts of lead, nor did she urge parents to throw away these toys for posing a supposedly lethal threat to children. She tested a handful of devices and claimed that she found unusual amounts of lead in two of them. Although reports about Rubin's study exaggerated the dangers of fidget spinners, some reports do possibly raise legitimate safety concerns about these devices. One issue with fidget spinners is that they are produced by a wide variety of companies in a wide range of locations, some of which may not comply with safety regulations in the United States and other countries where they are vended. The Toy Association published a press release in May 2016 urging parents, among other precautions, to purchase fidget spinners only from reputable retailers: Customs officials in the Republic of Ireland recently seized nearly 200,000 fidget spinners amidst safety fears: Although some off-brand (or counterfeit brands) of fidget spinners may contain levels of lead considered to be unsafe, articles claiming that all fidget spinners pose a deadly risk to children are exaggerations based upon a single small unofficial report. (en)
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