Start Your Senses Zebra toy recalled for cancer risk It features a toxic yellow dye which killed 400 people in Spain in 1981 Asda warned parent customers to 'stop using it and destroy it immediately' By Sean Poulter Dangerous: Bright Starts 'Start Your Senses' Zebra toy has been withdrawn from sale Thousands of baby toys are being recalled from UK stores and homes because they include a colour dye that is considered a cancer risk. The "Start Your Senses Zebra" is sold as an educational toy on the basis that it "helps develop baby's senses of sight, hearing, and touch." It has been available from leading retailers including Tesco, Asda, Mothercare and Amazon, which have all issued a product recall and advised parents to return or destroy it. The product includes a teether, mirror, rattle, crinkle paper and ribbons, while the highly coloured toy is designed to be attached to buggies and cots. However, it has emerged that the award winning product sold under the Bright Starts brand contains a colour including the chemical 4-Aminoazobenzine, also known as Aniline Yellow. It is a yellow dye used in computer printers, insecticides, paint and varnishes, however it is toxic and a cancer risk with the result it is prohibited from products that might be chewed by babies. In 1981, a criminal gang in Spain sold huge quantities of olive oil containing the chemical in a catastrophic food fraud that left 20,000 sick and 400 dead. A warning poster in Asda and other supermarkets advises parents to "Stop using this product immediately." It adds: "If you have a Bright Starts "Start Your Senses Zebra" with the code "Q" followed by a four digit number, please stop using it and destroy immediately. A scientist at Leeds-based company Green Chemicals, which develops products using safer chemicals, was not surprised the product was recalled. Technical director, Dr Jamie Hawkes, said: "Overall, as the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified this as a Group 2 carcinogen - it suggests that it is possible to be carcinogenic to humans via ingestion or contact with skin. In the case of this toy, the dye will probably be pretty well fixed into the fibres. Therefore any exposure to unfixed dyestuff and hence a carcinogen would be small - although any exposure is a risk that most people would not want to take. At risk: Babies could have been infected with the yellow dye, which killed 400 in Spain in 1981 Supermarkets including Asda warned parents: 'Please stop using it and destroy it immediately' The website RecallUK issues alerts and information on products that have been recalled because they may be dangerous. It warned that it will be difficult to get all the toys back. Spokesman, Barry Mulcahy, said: "The purpose of a product recall is to remove known safety issues from products that have been sold to consumers. "Many recalls have a success rate of only 10-20per cent, meaning that 80-90per cent of products, with known safety issues, remain in consumers" homes years after the recalls were launched. The consequences of these failures are many more fires, injuries and deaths than would be the case if the recalls had been successful. The biggest challenge facing most recalls is that manufacturers often do not know who owns their products. This is a serious issue as the most effective communication tactic used by manufacturers is to write to the owners of affected products. The firm behind the brand and toy is Kids II, an American company which describes itself as the world's fastest growing baby product companies with global sales of 22.8milllion products. Parents were advised to contact the UK office of the company, Kids II UK Ltd, which is based in Luton, Bedfordshire, for a refund.