Playskool Friday said it was recalling 255,000 Team Talkin’ Tool Bench toys after the deaths of two small children who suffocated when the head of an oversized plastic toy nail became lodged in their throats.
The unit of Hasbro Inc., said the two children were aged 19 months and 2 years. The toy is labeled for children 3-years old and up.
“While the circumstances surrounding these tragedies are not clear to us at this time, we went to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and initiated this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution,” Al Verrecchia, chief executive of Hasbro, said in a news release.
The nails involved in the incidents were more than three inches long and an 1-1/4 inches wide.
Hasbro is offering a $50 certificate to consumers who return the toy, which sold from October 2005 through September 2006 for about $35, the company said.
For instructions on how to return the toy nails and receive the certificate, consumers can call Playskool at (800) 509-9554 or go to www.playskool.com, the company said.
