“Caution, Dangerous Knockoff Toys Are Being Sold This Holiday Season, Shop At Your Own Risk” Says California Toy Maker

Los Angeles – Each year the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns the public about dangerous toys, but California Toy Maker D&L Company warns there are still hazardous toy air rockets being sold.

“The CPSC knows there are toy rockets still being sold today that are exact copies of rockets they classified in 2003 as ‘hazardous,’” said Fred Ramirez, CEO and President, D & L Company, which has been making the award-winning Stomp Rocket® for the last decade.

The Porterville, California toy maker was forced by the CPSC to take the original Stomp Rocket® off the market, but according to Ramirez, the federal agency has allowed knockoff rockets, of the exact design, to remain on store shelves.

“These rockets are violating the CPSC’s own safety standards and design guidelines set out for these types of toys.”

Ramirez also said, even though the CPSC knows they are “hazardous” and still being sold, the Commission has not recalled them or forced them off the market. “I would really like to know why the CPSC doesn’t extend its design requirements equally to other toy rocket manufacturers? This is not only discrimination, but dangerous for parents of innocent children across the country,” he said.

Ramirez noted that most toy rockets have small nosecones that can enter the eye socket and cause serious eye damage, including detached retinas.

D & L’s ULTRA STOMP ROCKET® with its “OG-1” nose cone is a unique design. It is larger than the eye socket and therefore reduces the possibility of the eye injuries most associated with air or water powered rockets.

“We’re very proud of our part in creating a category in the toy industry by creating the Stomp Rocket®,” explained Ramirez. “We’re also very proud of being able to put the safest nosecone in the industry on our new Ultra Stomp Rockets®.”

The air-powered ULTRA STOMP ROCKET® requires no fuel or batteries and can be used repeatedly. There are some rockets that are battery and water propelled on the market with dangerous sharp, pointed tips.

CPSC states that toy air rockets are “hazardous”. Referring specifically to rockets with small diameter or pointed nose cones, the CPSC claims that they “present a substantial product hazard”, and that they have “caused corneal abrasions and detached retinas leading to permanent vision loss.”

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually.

[Editors: For more information about D & L company please visit www.stomprocket.com. For images and media interviews with Fred Ramirez, CEO and President of D & L Company please call MAYO Communications, www.MayoCommunications.com at 818-340-5300 or 818-6187-9229. For Toy recalls visit the CPSC site at: http://www.recalls.gov/.]

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