Angry in the Great White North

This toy, banned since 2003, was being marketed by Party Starter in Montreal.

I dropped a note off to Health Canada (actually, straight to the minister, because, hey, that's his job), and I just got a response:

Thank you for your correspondence of October 12, 2006, addressed to the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, which identified PartyStarter Inc. of Montreal, Quebec, as a potential Canadian importer of yo-yo type balls.

In response to the information you provided, a Health Canada inspector visited the importer’s warehouse and confirmed that the product is not being imported to, or sold in, Canada. As a result of the visit, the item is no longer being advertised on the importer’s website.

I thank you for your attention to this important safety issue and I am grateful that you forwarded this information to the Department. I would like to advise you that, if you have a safety-related concern with a consumer product, you can report the details directly to Health Canada’s Consumer Product Safety by calling 1-866-662-0666 or by sending an e-mail to CPS-SPC@hc-sc.gc.ca.

Once again, thank you for writing.

Yours truly,

Susan Fletcher
Assistant Deputy Minister
Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch

All's well that ends well. No nasty toys. No one got in trouble -- either the distributor or a consumer. And a bit of inadvertantly misleading advertising was cleaned up.

Oh, and next time, I'll send a note to the email address Ms Fletcher provided, you know, instead of bothering the minister. Heh.