General Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Boards

Quick Search

Single word search

Tools

Findmypast DNA Banner

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Rodent poison case resolved.

Login to Add Reply Watch This
ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Len of the Chilterns

Len of the Chilterns Report 8 Dec 2009 13:13

Children in the UK can rest easy - Mr Squiggles the hamster will not be put down.

The global toy industry was rocked on Monday by claims that the fur on one of this season's must-have Go Go Hamsters range of electronic rodents contained traces of an arsenic-like chemical beyond permitted levels.

News of the apparent poison scare sent a panic around the toy industry and sent shares in the toys' UK distributor, Aim-listed Character Group, down by as much as 8pc. The £10 animatronic Cricetinae are on track to be Christmas's biggest selling toy with more than 600,000 of the battery-operated toys expected to be sold by December 25 in the UK alone.

However after a frantic day of investigations, statements and clarifications it transpired that the claims by US consumer group Good Guide were based on different testing methodology to those used by European and US regulators and that the hamster in question – Mr Squiggles – is perfectly safe.

Cepia, the US group that produces the toys, said that it had referred the incident to its US attorneys and was "considering proceedings" against Good Guide. In a statement on its website, Character Group said: “We assure you that Mr Squiggles is absolutely safe and has passed the most rigorous testing in the toy industry for consumer health and safety.”
(Telegraph)