After Zhu Zhu Pet mishap, GoodGuide revamps standards

Singed by misleading safety test on Zhu Zhu pets, consumer group GoodGuide reworks inspection standards.

Sometimes, you get the hamster. Sometimes, the hamster — in this case, one Mr. Squiggles — gets you.

After getting burned by a misleading rating that implied Zhu Zhu pets, this year's hot holiday toy, carried toxic levels of antimony and tin, the consumer advocacy group GoodGuide has revamped its evaluation guidelines, according to a news release.

"It was inappropriate to compare our results to federal standards because we used a different testing methodology. Our new protocols are designed to ensure that this does not happen again," said founder Dara O'Rourke, who is also a professor of Environmental and Labor Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement. "We apologize for any confusion and inconvenience that we may have caused consumers who have come to rely on GoodGuide for expert advice on the safety of toys and other products."

GoodGuide's new protocols include:

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that the Mr. Squiggles and company were safe on Monday evening.

See also:

Zhu Zhu Pets unsafe? Hardly, says manufacturer, as consumer group backtracks.

How to find a cheap Zhu Zhu Pet

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— David Grant is a Monitor correspondent. What's your take on Zhu Zhu Gate? Let us know on Twitter.