CPSC, Eight Firms Announce the Recall of Zapper Toys
Kids’ product recall 01-110. Announced by CPSC on Mar 19, 2001.
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. CPSC’s own notice is on cpsc.gov.
The short answer
Announced by CPSC on Mar 19, 2001. Copied from CPSC on Oct 19, 2026.
Every line below is in CPSC’s own words, with its source beside it.
What’s wrong with it?
The balloon tongues and the cylinders holding the tongues on these toys can detach, posing a choking and aspiration hazard to young children.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
What should you do?
Consumers should immediately take these toys away from young children and take them back to where they were purchased, for a refund, or throw them away.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
- How to reach the firm: If consumers have questions, call CPSC at (800) 638- 2772 anytime.
Which ones are recalled?
The vinyl Zapper toys are about 2 to 3 inches long, and come in 12 different styles: smiley face, globe with glasses, troll, bumble bee, lion, bear, tiger, raspberry face, fish, frog, snake, and lizard. When the toy is squeezed, the balloon tongue attached to its mouth inflates or rolls out. “CHINA” or “MADE IN CHINA” is molded into the toy.
About 835,000 units, as CPSC gives them.
Bug Zapper toys.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
CPSC’s photos
CPSC shows 1 photo on its notice. Hearth Record doesn’t copy them; each opens on cpsc.gov.
Who made and sold it?
- Distributed by Bonita Marie International Inc., Manasquan, N.J.
- Distributed by Dillon Importing Co., Oklahoma City, Okla.
- Distributed by Oriental Trading Co. Inc., Omaha, Neb.
- Distributed by Play By Play Toys & Novelties Inc., San Antonio, Texas.
- Distributed by Rhode Island Novelty, Johnston, R.I.
- Distributed by Sherman Specialty Co. Inc., Merrick, N.Y.
- Distributed by Toy Investment Inc., Kent, Wash.
- Distributed by U.S. Toy Co. Inc., Grandview, Mo.
- Toy stores, doctor and dentist offices, and carnivals and circuses sold and distributed these toys, from October 1998 through March 2001. They were sold for about $1.
- Made in China, as the notice gives it.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
Was anyone hurt?
The Promotional Resources Group of Companies Inc., of Topeka, Kan., previously recalled about 105,000 Bug Zapper toys on June 6, 2000. That company received a report of a 3-year-old boy who inhaled a balloon tongue that detached from a Zapper toy into his sinus cavity. He required medical treatment to remove the part from his nose.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
What the record doesn’t say
- The notice lists no UPCs, so check the model, the description and the photos.
- The notice lists no model numbers in a field of their own; its description may give them.
- How many have been returned or fixed isn’t in the notice.
Hearth Record wrote these lines.
Sources
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Recalls API.
Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily. Public domain (U.S. Government work). CPSC asks to be credited, and that no endorsement be implied.
Recalls of kids’ and home products are from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CPSC does not endorse Hearth Record. Copied on Oct 19, 2026.