By Patricia Callahan and Leora Falk, Tribune staff reporters: Patricia Callahan reported from Chicago an dLeora Falk from Bethesda, Md.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Monday vowed to introduce laws to give the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission more power to recall dangerous children's products after a Senate field hearing in Chicago scrutinized the agency's sluggish response to warnings about a deadly toy.

A Tribune investigation, which prompted the hearing, last month uncovered red flags the federal safety agency missed about popular Magnetix toys shedding dangerous magnets -- warnings that presaged the death of a suburban Seattle toddler and the serious intestinal injuries of more than two dozen other children. When swallowed, the aspirin-size magnets can rip through a child's intestines like a gunshot.

The two Magnetix recalls that followed the toddler's death were so confusing that consumers and retailers couldn't tell which versions of the toy were potentially deadly.

Durbin's subsequent investigation found that Magnetix maker Mega Brands Inc. repeatedly fought the government's attempts to recall the toy, issued a tardy response to a safety commission subpoena and violated the terms of the recall agreement when it was finally struck, the Tribune has learned.

The CPSC has to go through a lengthy court process to force a recall. Usually the agency tries to persuade manufacturers to recall products voluntarily. As a result, the CPSC negotiates every word of a recall alert with the maker of the defective product -- a process Durbin and Rush called absurd. They vowed to introduce laws that would empower the agency to recall products promptly when companies refuse to do so voluntarily.

"Consumers were not warned, and many of these products stayed on the shelves far longer than they should have," Durbin said.

In the case of Magnetix, the CPSC told Durbin that Mega Brands either didn't promptly report injuries and complaints about magnets coming loose or gave the agency incomplete information. After the CPSC expanded the recall of Magnetix in April to cover another 4 million boxes, Mega Brands immediately violated the terms of the recall -- relabeling older boxes to suggest they weren't the recalled versions and rewriting recall posters for stores in ways that strayed from the agreed-upon message, the CSPC told Durbin.

Mega Brands, which bought Magnetix-maker Rose Art in July 2005, said it had to scour Rose Art's archives to find the information the CPSC was seeking. "We were astonished to learn that there had been 1,500 reports of magnets falling out of the product," Jennifer Zerczy, a Mega Brands attorney, said in a statement Monday. She added, "We have always acted in good faith and have sought to responsibly follow the terms of the recall and the expanded recall."

At the Senate hearing, CPSC Acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord declined to answer questions about Magnetix -- citing her agency's ongoing investigation of Mega Brands as well as a provision of law that protects manufacturers' reputations. Her request to speak "in general terms" about product recalls frustrated Durbin and Rush.

"I don't think there is anything general about the death of a child," Durbin responded. He added, "If a child dies and you can't acknowledge that in your answer to a question, something is wrong with the law."

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan testified her staff found 15 stores still selling recalled Magnetix toys last month. Her staff also found knockoff versions of the toys that posed the same hazard. She sent those toys to the CPSC and asked the agency to consider recalling them.

"Unfortunately, we received the same response that consumers hear every day from the agency -- CPSC doesn't test products until an incident is reported," Madigan said. Waiting for a child to be injured or killed, she added, is "absolutely unconscionable."

Nord said the CPSC now is testing those toys to see if the magnets come loose. If they do, she vowed to push for a recall.

Meanwhile, at CPSC headquarters in Bethesda, Md., the agency's staff brainstormed with doctors, toymakers and consumer advocates on ways to prevent children's injuries from swallowed magnets.

Solutions ranged from warning labels to a ban on toys with magnetic parts small enough to be swallowed by a child.

Dr. Alan Oestreich, a Cincinnati radiologist whose hospital has seen seven cases of ingested magnets, said he has heard of about 100 cases worldwide, eliciting surprised reactions from some toy manufacturers who said they thought the number of cases was much lower.

pcallahan@tribune.com
lfalk@tribune.com