Safety lab labels questioned on products made in China, and sold in 380 U.S. stores.




Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. voluntarily recalled more than 2.3 million sets of Christmas lights Thursday after reports of mild electric shocks and melting wires.




The Oklahoma City-based retailer said the lights were made in China. They bore a mark from safety lab Underwriters Laboratories Inc., although UL said the mark may be counterfeit.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission received one report of a minor shock when a consumer touched a light string, while Hobby Lobby reported one instance of melting wires. The commission said the lights have undersized wires which can separate from the plugs or light sockets, posing an electrical shock and fire hazard.

"Customer safety is our top priority,” said Peter Dobelbower, Hobby Lobby's vice president. "We really want to make sure our customers are safe and they know about this.”

Hobby Lobby said the recall covered five sets of lights: 100-count indoor/outdoor super bright mini lights; 50-count classic indoor super bright mini lights; 150-count indoor/outdoor ribbon-style net lights; 100-count indoor/outdoor miniature trunk net lights; and 300-count indoor/outdoor hang-straight icicle lights. The lights come in a variety of colors.

The retailer sold the lights at its 380 stores across the country between June and early December. The lights ranged in price from $2.50 to $10. Consumers should return the lights to any Hobby Lobby store to get an exchange card of equal value.

Hobby Lobby said it was working with the Consumer Safety Product Commission to determine if the recalled lights had a fake UL mark. In a statement, UL said it was not familiar with the Christmas lights sold by Hobby Lobby.
"The recall states that the product contains undersized wires and is manufactured in China,” UL said. "Based on these product characteristics, we can speculate that the product contains a counterfeit UL mark.”

Instances of counterfeit UL marks have risen as the United States imports more goods from China. UL, whose 50 worldwide labs inspect 19,000 products for safety, spends about $2 million annually to fight counterfeit UL marks.

"The instances of counterfeiting are rather small compared to the 19 billion UL marks that go on products every year,” said John Drengenberg, UL's consumer affairs manager and an electrical engineer. "But we are very aggressive with anti-counterfeiting. We've got it contained. We know counterfeiting comes from China, and it's all certain product categories — the low-cost, high volume products like extension cords, nightlights and power strips.”

Drengenberg said UL requires certain products made in China to bear holographic UL labels, which are harder to counterfeit.


Company reviews policies
Hobby Lobby first received reports of problems in one of the light sets Dec. 4. The company sent the rest of the light sets to a lab for testing, Dobelbower said. After receiving those test results, the company began pulling lights from store shelves Dec. 8. He said about 1.6 million of the 2.3 million sets of lights were sold.
"This recall will cost us a significant amount, but it really pales in comparison to the safety of our customers,” Dobelbower said.

Hobby Lobby bought the lights from a broker, Allbright, in China.

"We are in the process of putting protocols in place to see why this happened and to make sure it never happens again,” he said.

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