NSW Fair Trading Minister, Linda Burney, today alerted consumers to the national voluntary recall of brown coloured sunglasses which were distributed free of charge with the February edition of Marie Claire magazine.

Ms Burney said the sunglasses do not meet the lens performance requirements of the mandatory Australian safety standard for sunglasses and fashion spectacles (AS 1067:2003).

“Testing identified the glasses posed a vision hazard and should have carried a label warning wearers not to use the sunglasses while driving,” Ms Burney said. 

“The sunglasses may affect the visibility of flashing blue light emitting diode (LED) signals and, for those with colour vision deficiencies, they may affect the recognition of green traffic signals. 

“Some pairs may also have lenses with unequal or uneven tints, which may affect the wearer’s perception of the distance of moving objects.”

Ms Burney said it is estimated that approximately 40,000 pairs of sunglasses reached consumers during Marie Claire’s SunSmart campaign with the Cancer Council of Australia. 

“During the campaign, equal quantities of brown and black sunglasses were distributed – the black pairs do not pose any safety risks and therefore the recall does not affect them.

“Consumers who received a brown pair of sunglasses can return them to Pacific Magazines, Reply Paid 62441, Locked Bag 9000, North Sydney 2059 by 6 June and will receive a black pair in exchange if they include their postal address.”

For further queries call 9464 2682 or write to Pacific Magazines, 35-51 Mitchell Street, McMahons Point, NSW 2060. 

Pacific Magazines has posted the recall notice at www.recalls.gov.au and will publish the notice in their April 2008 edition of Marie Claire. 

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