CBS orders CSI toy fingerprint kits removed from toy shelves

Listen to this article

CBS Broadcasting, Inc. has asked that all toy CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "fingerprint examination kits" and "field kits "be pulled off store shelves and not be sold because fingerprint powder in the kits may be contaminated with asbestos.

Public Justice, America’s public interest law firm, wrote to CBS late last week on behalf of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, requesting a meeting to discuss ADAO’s findings that all five kits from lot "AG 100" that it tested were contaminated.

CBS, toy manufacturer Planet Toys, ADAO, and Public Justice met Tuesday and discussed the discrepancy between ADAO’s test results and the results of independent tests commissioned by Planet Toys that did not find asbestos in other samples.

Late Tuesday night, Planet Toys reported that tests of kits from lot “AG 100" found no asbestos. Some kits, however, may be contaminated while others are not. The parties are working together to develop a protocol for further testing. In the meantime, CBS has asked Planet Toys to remove the product from the market.

“Given the grave health risks associated with asbestos exposure, ADAO agrees with CBS that the toy kits should be removed from retail shelves. They should also be placed out of reach in homes until the testing dispute is resolved," said Linda Reinstein, ADAO Executive Director. "Once asbestos is inhaled or swallowed, the damage is irreversible.”

ADAO conducted an 18-month study that tested over 250 commonly-found consumer products for asbestos, and released its findings to the public on November 28. Three independent laboratories participating in the study confirmed the presence of asbestos in the white fingerprint powder found in the CSI fingerprint examination kit.