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Paint dot history
During the National Benzole promotion in the UK in autumn 1978 Schleich was
accused to use to high levels of lead in the paint they used for their PVC-smurfs.
In The Times archives you can read that the newspaper dated 4th october 1978
states that the levels of lead was above the specified limit but not dangerous.
After this Schleich started using a new paint and also started adding a paint dot
on the ones with the new paint. Some say it was the paint Schleich used on the
smurfs painted in Hongkong that contained more lead. This would explain why
it seems only smurfs painted outside the EC and sold within the EC that got the
dots. Probably the regulations for paint used on toys were more strict within the
EC, so the problem were the regulations for paint used on toys in other countries
where Schleich had their smurfs painted, like Portugal, Sri Lanka, Tunesia. In
the beginning the dot colours represented the country in which the smurfs had
been painted, but after 1987 the dots had nothing to do with country. Schleich
stopped using dots on the smurfs in 2004.I am not sure if all smurfs painted outside EC and sold within EC had a dot??
Could be that certain countries like for example the UK required dots??
Mustard paint dot, Portugal 1978-1987
Yellow paint dot, Germany 1978-1979?
Green paint dot, Tunisia 1982-1987
Red paint dot, Sri Lanka 1983-1987
Black and white dots, 1988-1999