CPSC toy recalls

December 22, 1998
Web posted at: 11:28 a.m. EST (1628 GMT)

(CNN) -- More than 10 million toy basketball sets are being recalled because their nets can come loose and strangle children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday.

Agency Chairwoman Ann Brown said 20 children have become entangled in nets over the past 10 years, and that an 18- month-old child was strangled in 1992.

The toys have a nylon net and plastic hoop attached to an adjustable plastic pole that rests in a plastic base and adjusts from 3.5 to 6 feet high. The nets have loops that can come unhooked from the rims or knots that can slide, creating openings large enough for a child's head.

Some of the recalled basketball sets have been on the market since 1976

"When there's an opening, a child's head can get caught in it and the net can get twisted around the child's head," Brown said. Some of the sets have been on the market since 1976.

The sets involved in the voluntary recall were made by Ohio Art, Little Tikes, Today's Kids and Fisher-Price.

The manufacturer's name and model are located on the backboard or base of each toy.

Consumers can contact the companies for information on which models are being recalled. Replacement nets can be ordered at no charge. "While you are waiting for it," says Brown, "you can just keep the rim. Take off the old net, cut it up, throw it away."