Tens of thousands of boxes of asbestos-contaminated play sand were sold to families across Australia and New Zealand over at least five years, with schools, retailers, and government regulators reassuring the public the products posed little danger — advice now known to have been based solely on an unverified risk assessment commissioned by the supplier itself. The claim that toxic fibres were "unlikely" to be released unless the sand was mechanically crushed or pulverised originated with Educational Colours, the initial manufacturer at the centre of recalls beginning in November 2025, and was never independently tested or publicly disclosed before being adopted as official messaging by both governments. That assurance has since been contradicted by Auckland University of Technology (AUT) testing showing that 90% of craft sand samples did release asbestos fibres into the air even through ordinary child-level handling, prompting regulators to begin updating recall notices and raising serious questions about the adequacy of consumer protection oversight in both countries.