In Wake of Second Death, CPSC and Burger King Again Urge Consumers to Destroy and Discard Pokemon Balls

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Burger King Corp. are again urging consumers to immediately destroy and discard Pokémon balls distributed with Burger King kids meals in November and December 1999. On January 25, 2000, a 4-month-old boy in Indianapolis, Ind., reportedly suffocated when one-half of a Pokémon ball that was in his crib became stuck on his face.

Burger King Corp., in cooperation with CPSC, issued a voluntary recall of more than 25 million Pokémon balls on December 27, 1999. The balls pose a suffocation hazard to children under three years of age.

In December, a 13-month-old girl reportedly suffocated when one-half of a Pokémon ball covered her nose and mouth. Also in December, an 18-month-old girl nearly suffocated when a ball-half got stuck over her face. On the second attempt, the girl's father was able to pull the ball-half from her face.

Pokémon balls are plastic, ball-shaped containers between 2.75 and 3 inches in diameter. They pull apart to reveal one of 57 different Pokémon toys inside. The balls were distributed in a variety of colors including red and white, and hot pink. Packaging described them as safety tested and recommended for all ages of children.

Burger King restaurants nationwide distributed the Pokémon balls inside Burger King big kids meals and regular kids meals from early November through December 1999.

Consumers should immediately take the balls away from children under the age of three. They should discard the ball or return both halves of the ball and the clip to a Burger King restaurant for a free order of small fries. Children can continue to use the Pokémon toy that came inside the ball.

As part of the voluntary recall effort, more than 8,100 Burger King restaurants posted recall notices in both English and Spanish. When the recall was first announced, Burger King placed an ad in USA Today, and CPSC broadcast a video news release so local television stations could use video tape showing the danger. CPSC Chairman Ann Brown also announced the recall on the Today Show reaching millions of viewers.

In addition, Burger King worked with the CPSC to send recall notices to 56,000 pediatricians' offices, 10,000 emergency room directors and 25,000 emergency health care clinics across the country. Notices were posted on the CPSC and Burger King web sites, and on web sites frequented by Pokémon fans and parents. Recall notices will be posted on tray liners, carry-out bags and French fry bags as well.

Burger King also will purchase national cable and network television advertisements to alert consumers to the recall. Burger King's Consumer Relations phone number is 305-378-3535, which operates Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. east coast time.

Consumers can also view a video clip about this recall (Transcript). It is about 6 megabytes long and the download time depends upon the speed of your Internet connection.

Consumers should immediately take the balls away from children under the age of three. They should discard the ball or return both halves of the ball and the clip to a Burger King restaurant for a free order of small fries. Children can continue to use the Pokémon toy that came inside the ball.

On January 25, 2000, a 4-month-old boy in Indianapolis, Ind., reportedly suffocated when one-half of a Pokémon ball that was in his crib became stuck on his face. In December, a 13-month-old girl reportedly suffocated when one-half of a Pokémon ball covered her nose and mouth. Also in December, an 18-month-old girl nearly suffocated when a ball-half got stuck over her face. On the second attempt, the girl's father was able to pull the ball-half from her face.