Looks like Chinese lead paint is this generation's red menace.

First it was Thomas the Tank Engine. Now Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego, and other plastic preschool characters manufactured by Fisher-Price have been recalled because they were doused with lead paint in Chinese factories. It's enough to make George Carlin - who played the narrator in Thomas' PBS TV show - revert to his "Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say On TV" stage.

Seems to me when you're a corporation manufacturing toys marketed to kids full of the joys of oral fixation, the composition of the paint you're using might be something you'd keep a pretty close eye on. But then again, I always did suck at making money.

After these recalls, the capitalist running dogs put information on their web sites and staffed hotlines for consumer calls. If you're specifically concerned about Fisher-Price toys - a subsidiary of Mattel - go to www.service.mattel.com or call Mattel's recall hotline at 800-916-4498.

Beyond the lead paint scare, your source for one-stop recall shopping is www.recalls.gov. Six federal agencies provide info on recalled consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics, and environmental products. Some federal agencies also post recall info on their own sites. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lists recalled consumer products at www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html, or call CPSC at 800-638-2772. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posts vehicle recall info at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm. For food, drug, personal care products, pet food recalls and the like visit the FDA at www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html.