McDonald's Recalls Millions Of Happy Meals Fitness Bands

NEW YORK (WWJ/AP) - McDonald's is recalling millions fitness bands that had been given away in Happy Meals because they might cause skin irritation or burns to children.

The fast-food chain said last week that it would stop distributing the bands in Happy Meals. Now it's recalling 29 million of them in the U.S., and 3.6 million in Canada.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the company, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, received more than 70 reports of incidents after children wore the bands, including seven reports of blisters.

This comes after the promotion had already turned heads, given the reputation of McDonald's Corp. as a seller of junk food.

The Step-It Fitness bands look like watches, are supposed to track physical activity and come in two styles —"Activity Counter" and a motion-activated "Light-up Band."

The Activity Counter comes in translucent plastic orange, blue or green and features a digital screen that tracks a child's steps or other movement. The Light-up Band comes in translucent plastic red, purple, or orange and blinks light with the child's movement. Both styles of activity wristbands have a square face with the words "STEP-iT" printed on them and a button to depress and activate the wristband. The back of the square face contains the etched words "Made for McDonald's."

They were distributed exclusively by McDonald's restaurants nationwide from August 9, 2016 to August 17, 2016 with Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals.

The CPSC says consumers should immediately take the recalled wristbands from children and return them to any McDonald's for a free replacement toy and either a yogurt tube or bag of apple slices.

Customers with questions can call McDonald's at 800-244-6227 or visit this link for more information.

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