BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission seized nearly 600 girl’s bicycles in Baltimore recently that were coated in excessive levels of harmful lead paint.
CBP officers and a CPSC investigator initially examined the shipment of 598 Dripe-X brand girl’s bicycles from China on September 21. The CPSC investigator took samples for testing on September 30 and requested that CBP officers detain the shipment. Those tests results returned on December 1 and indicated that the bicycles were coated in excessive levels of lead paint.
On December 29, the CPSC investigator requested that CBP officers seize the shipment for violating the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. Read more about federal laws regulating lead paint.
The 598 bicycles were destined to an address in San Bernardino County, Calif., and appraised for nearly $84,000.
“Customs and Border Protection and our consumer safety partners take very serious our mission of protecting our nation’s citizens against potentially dangerous imports, particularly products that may be especially harmful to our most vulnerable – our children,” said Keith Fleming, CBP’s Acting Director of Field Operations in Baltimore.
Consumers may visit SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC’s toll-free hotline at (800) 638-2772 to learn if a potential purchase may be unsafe. Consumers can also report dangerous products and learn about product recall information at SaferProducts.gov.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.