| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 17, 2001 Release # 01-124 |
Lighter Recall Hotline: (877) 666-0664 CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772 CPSC Media Contact: Ken Giles, (301) 504-7052 |
CPSC, Gladstrong Investments USA Announce Recall of Disposable Lighters
4-Year-Old Girl Died in Fire After Playing with Firm's Lighter
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC), Gladstrong Investments USA, of Hacienda Heights,
Calif., is voluntarily recalling about 13 million disposable lighters.
The lighters' child-resistant mechanisms are frequently ineffective.
Young children are able to operate the lighters, posing a fire hazard. CPSC and Gladstrong Investments have received a report of a 4- year-old girl who died after starting a fire with a Gladstrong Investments lighter and then hid in a closet. The fire caused an estimated $72,000 in damages. In another incident, two brothers, a 4- year-old and a 6-year-old, reportedly ignited clothing and paper inside a car while playing with one of these lighters causing about $1,500 in damages. They were not injured.
The recalled lighters have their brand name, "BODA-BING," "GIL," "HAPPY," or "WAX" stamped on both sides of their metal tops. The UPC bar code on the lighters' labels is "0-80692-99930-1," "0-295114-0" or starts with "7-55998." Writing on these lighters includes "MADE IN CHINA." The lighters were sold in various colors.
Convenience, drug and discount stores nationwide sold these lighters from January 1998 through February 2001 for about $1.
Consumers should stop using these lighters immediately and return them to the store where purchased for a refund. For more information, call Gladstrong at (877) 666-0664 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday.
These lighters were discovered by CPSC surveillance and from reports from the Franklin, N.H. and Racine, Wis. fire departments.
Consumers can also
view a video clip about this recall (transcript). This is in "streaming video" format.
