Don't eat the hamsters

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One of the holly daze hot toys may be hazardous to your kid if they eat it. The manufacturer, of course, says that ain't so.

A consumer group in California says one of the hottest-selling toys this holiday season may not be safe for youngsters, reports CBS Station KPIX correspondent Kiet Do.

When it debuted, the Zhu Zhu pet hamster was one of the top 15 hottest toys of the holiday season.

But the consumer watchdog group Good Guide, based in the Bay Area, says that if you have one, keep the receipt.

In rating the product goodguide.com says it found a chemical called antimony, which is a metal with potential health hazards.

"If ingested in high enough levels [it] can lead to cancer, reproductive health, and other human health hazards," said Dara O'Rourke, an associate professor of environmental science at U.C.-Berkeley, and co-founder of goodguide.com.

On Saturday evening, the manufacturer of Zhu Zhu Pets, Cepia LLC, released a statement to CBS News responding to the Good Guide warning. In the statement, the company says that its hamster toys, named Mr. Squiggles, are “absolutely safe and has passed the most rigorous testing in the toy industry for consumer health and safety.”

Read the rest of this CBSNews.com article here.

Probably don't want to let your pets eat them, either.