CPSC, The First Years Announce Recall to Repair High Chair Gym Toys

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), The First Years of Avon, Mass., is recalling about 108,000 First Years High Chair Gym toys for repair. The clacker balls hanging from the center of the toy present a choking hazard to young children.

CPSC and The First Years have received 2 reports of children getting one of the clacker balls stuck in the throat and blocking the airway. Nearby adults were able to pull the balls free and prevent the children from choking.

The First Years is offering a free repair kit, consisting of easily installed permanent covers for the ball-shaped ends of the clacker toy. The covers will prevent the toy from entering a child's throat.

The First Years High Chair Gym is an activity toy consisting of a metal wire frame about 7 inches high and 10.5 inches wide. It attaches to a high chair tray by two large red suction cups. Several brightly colored plastic toys hang from the wire frame. Two 1-inch diameter plastic clacker balls, one black and one white, are suspended from the center of the frame by rigid plastic arms about 3.5 inches long. A yellow plastic spinning toy on one end of the frame has "the first years" molded in one end with a sun on the opposite end.

Discount and toy stores sold the First Years High Chair Gym toy nationwide from January 1995 through November 1997 for about $10.

Consumers should take the toy away from children immediately and call The First Years at (800) 533-6708 anytime for the free repair kit and installation instructions or write to The First Years at One Kiddie Drive, Avon, MA 02322-1171.