Zhu Zhu Pets won’t be recalled, safety agency says

Zhu Zhu Pets, the electronic hamster toys that have been a hit with shoppers this holiday season, meet US guidelines for antimony, a metal that a consumer testing company said may cause cancer. “The toy is not out of compliance with the antimony, or other heavy metal limits of the new US mandatory toy standard,” the Consumer Product Safety Commission said today in a statement. Zhu Zhu Pets, made by St Louis-based Cepia LLC, have been in short supply in an otherwise slow year for holiday toy sales. Toy “R” Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, has limited purchases of the $10 toy hamsters, which spin in a plastic cage, to two per customer. The product’s safety was questioned last week when a testing company said it contained high levels tin and antimony. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has no reason to recall the toys, agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said in an interview. GoodGuide, a company that rates products for consumer safety, said on Dec 5 Zhu Zhu Pets contain tin, which can harm the immune and nervous systems, and antimony, a metal that may be linked to cancer, heart and lung problems. The company has since backed down.