Health Canada has ordered thousands of toys and children's costume jewellery items off store shelves after a Star investigation found they contained dangerously high levels of lead.

One of the items is a baby pacifier that was sold at Everything For a Dollar in Scarborough. Another is a scrapbook charm sold at Dollarama that was so poisonous Health Canada determined a child could die from swallowing the penny-sized bauble.

Using two types of high-tech tests, the Star found lead in about one in every four products bought at 18 retailers in the Greater Toronto Area. Most were made in China. We found the toxic metal in a shocking range of items – from a "Lead Free" jewellery kit to a cuddly stuffed animal dressed as a Mountie.

Health Canada issued the recall notices after its own tests confirmed high levels of lead in six of the seven items identified by the Star. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of each item have been carried in GTA stores.

Health Minister Tony Clement called the Star's findings "deeply disturbing" and said enforcement of leaded products is not good enough. He pledged to introduce a law to better protect consumers.

The recall notices were posted recently on the federal agency's website, healthycanadians.ca.

The recalled products include:

• An orange mini hockey stick with "Canada" painted on the shaft in black letters. The black paint contained 10 times the legal limit for lead. Health Canada said that since April, 3,240 of the sticks had been distributed to retailers nationwide.

• A jewellery kit bought at west-end toy store Animal Crackers. The kit, billed as "Lead Free," contained a pendant that tested at nearly double the legal limit for lead in children's jewellery. The necklace clasp tested at 150 times the limit. Health Canada says 5,940 of the kits have been sold across the country since September 2004.

• A pewter scrapbook charm sold at Dollarama that tested at 77 per cent lead. If swallowed, the penny-sized accessory – which has "laugh" engraved on one side – could be fatal. Health Canada said that 11,776 of the items hit Dollarama shelves starting in May 2007.

• A pacifier from the My Baby brand sold in Everything For a Dollar. The orange plastic mouthguard of the pacifier contained more than 10 times the proposed legal limit of lead. Health Canada announced that as a precautionary measure, importer OPC is extending the recall to include My Baby pacifiers with guards of all colours. About 10,000 of the pacifiers were sold from April 2007 to October 2008.

Clement told the Star he will consider a restriction on lead in pacifiers in any new law he introduces.

A "Super Dooper Charms" jewellery-making kit recalled by the government in July, but that the Star easily found and bought on chapters.indigo.ca in August. Health Canada has issued another recall notice. More than 900 of the items had been distributed nationwide since January 2006.

Recalls are voluntary and it is up to the offending companies and parents to keep the dangerous items from children. Health Canada has not punished a company for selling, importing or manufacturing dangerous children's products in more than a decade.

Lead can damage the most vulnerable without warning. Experts say sucking on or mouthing a lead-laced toy can cause damage that might not be readily apparent to caregivers or doctors. Possible symptoms of lead poisoning – such as irritability, a drop in IQ and poor school performance – could easily be confused with other ailments. Repeatedly sucking on or swallowing heavily leaded items can bring on a range of symptoms, from prolonged vomiting, diarrhea and cramping to possible death.

Clement had said that any new law should allow regulators to make recalls mandatory and to more easily fine offenders.

Of the seven products the Star featured in its recent investigation, the federal government issued recall notices for five and is in the process of issuing a recall notice for another – a cuddly, China-made husky dog dressed as a Mountie. The Star bought the $20 stuffed toy in a souvenir store in Terminal 3 at Pearson airport. Its belt contained lead.

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When confronted with the Star's findings last month, some retailers and importers said they would immediately pull the items from shelves and others said they would do their own tests.

The government did not recall a Hannah Montana bracelet bought at Wal-Mart. The Star tested the bracelet's rhinestones using two high-tech methods and found lead at 445 times the legal limit. Health Canada said its test did not reveal lead over the federal limit.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. issued a series of safety guidelines for its global suppliers, after a series of high-profile safety scares from Chinese factories and major recalls.