Eight Firms · Recalled
CPSC, Eight Firms Announce the Recall of Zapper Toys
The balloon tongues and the cylinders holding the tongues on these toys can detach, posing a choking and aspiration hazard to young children.
- Units
- About 835,000
- Reports
- 1
- Injuries
- —
- Deaths
- —
- Price
- $1
- Remedy
- See notice
Reports, injuries, deaths and price are read out of the notice’s wording by rules, so they can miss unusual phrasing. The official notice is the record.
Affected
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.
The file
- Sold at
- 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.
- Product type
- Toy Animals Stuffed/Not Stuffed
- Made in
- China
- Recalled by
- Bonita Marie International Inc., of Manasquan, N.J., Dillon Importing Co., of Oklahoma City, Okla., Oriental Trading Co. Inc., of Omaha, Neb., Play By Play Toys & Novelties Inc., of San Antonio, Texas, Rhode Island Novelty, of Johnston, R.I., Sherman Specialty Co. Inc., of Merrick, N.Y. and others
Incident log
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.
What the notice says to 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.
If consumers have questions, call CPSC at (800) 638- 2772 anytime.
Recall notice published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This site is independent: always confirm on the official notice before acting.
Notice first dated MAR 19 2001; last revised FEB 09 2026.