Target Recalls 500,00 Easter Toys over Risk of Fatal Ingestion

In the week before Easter, retail giant Target Corp. experienced more problems as it faced a recall of over 500,000 small Easter toys due to serious safety concerns.

The store’s “Hatch & Grow” toy line features a shaped, sponge-like toy that when placed in water will swell to 600 percent their original size. But after hitting store shelves the retailer began to have concerns over what might happen to a child if the toys were to be ingested before expansion and were to expand in the stomach or intestines, according to reports.

Medical consultants told the department store chain that if swallowed before expansion, the toys may cause vomiting, dehydration, or stomach and intestinal blockages. Some conditions may even be life threatening, the store said in its recall notice.

There are also fears that surgery might be required to remove the toys if swallowed.

However, no reports of children harmed by the product have yet surfaced. Target Corp. is offering a full refund if the toys are returned to the store but also says they should be thrown away and not given to children otherwise.

The products being recalled are:

• Hatch & Grow Easter Eggs and Easter Grow Toys, model number 234-25-1200 on the back of the product’s packaging
• Hatch Your Own Dino Egg, model number 234-09-0016 on the label inserted in the product’s packaging
• The pink, blue, or purple Hatch & Grow Easter Eggs include a white bunny, brown bunny, or butterfly
• The Easter Grow Toys include a yellow chick, brown bunny, or white bunny
• The Hatch Your Own Dino Eggs are purple or yellow/green and contains one of eleven dinosaurs

The recall effort comes on the heels of a year of sliding sales and falling stock prices for the Minnesota-based retailer.

Target has seen falling fortunes since its April 2016 announcement that men claiming to be transgender women would be allowed to use any bathroom or changing room that they felt like using at any of the retailer’s stores. By February of this year, Target had lost $15 billion since its pro-transgender announcement and had lost over $30 per share since its high last year. The chain also suffered a massive, organized boycott that earned over a million signatures in only a few weeks.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.