Four days before Christmas, Planet Toys Inc. wants stores to remove the company's CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit from their shelves after some tests had revealed samples of asbestos included in ...

He said in a letter to the law firm that he found asbestos in 24 talc-based makeup items from those 17 kits, including eye shadows, blushes and compact powders.

Preparing for the removal is the biggest cost factor, usually ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 , since it involves planning, labor and materials to prevent the asbestos from spreading to other areas ...

Lunder said that contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen, had been spotted in several types of crayons as far back as 2000 and in certain crime-scene toy kits in 2007.

Following the first positive asbestos result, Warner and her boss, John Deaton, purchased 17 more kits from different states. All were found to be laced with the potentially deadly chemical.

But the Minister, Cameron Dick, says an alert was issued to schools at the time and 159 kits have since been removed. He says the students were at minimal risk as the asbestos was in rock form.

The newly released report from the advocacy group said four of 28 boxes of crayons tested positive for asbestos. And asbestos was found in two of 21 toy crime lab kits it evaluated.