“Here kids, eat a stick of lead”…

(HILLSBOROUGH) - Thousands of bendable toys made their way into the hands and mouths of small children across North Carolina this summer through public library reading programs. Now those toys have been recalled for high levels of lead.

The State Library of North Carolina requested that local libraries recall 12,000 of the toys distributed across the state through the “Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales” summer reading program. The program is geared mainly to children 2 to 8 years old.

The lead is found in the accent paint, said Matt Mulder, director of Highsmith Publications, a school and library supply and publishing company in Wisconsin that sold the toys across the country.

“[For example] the dots on the Dalmatians, the white breast plates on the black cats,” Mulder said.

Tests this summer found the toys contain at least four times the lead that federal regulations allow.