Do You Have a Radioactive Tissue Box in Your Home?

If you bought a shiny metallic-blue tissue box at Bed Bath & Beyond in Canoga Park, 6530 Canoga Ave., it may be radioactive.

The boxes recently sold in California, on the internet and in 200 stores across the nation may owe their color to radioactive Cobalt 60, and purchasers were urged by state safety experts this weekend to return them.

A freeway-side radioactivity detector operated by the California Highway Patrol went off when a truck containing a shipment of "Dual Ridge Metal Boutique tissue boxes" went through a weigh station, according to a statement issued by the California Department of Public Health.

The state said the boxes, which were made in India, were sold at some Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

The boxes' low level of radioactivity "poses no immediate health threat," and they can safely be carried back to stores for a refund. The metal boxes are marked with model number DR9M.

According to the state, the chain sold the boxes at stores in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Studio City, Valencia and West Covina in Los Angeles County and Huntington Beach and Irvine in Orange County.

Other Valley-area stores are at 8959 Tampa Ave. Northridge; 17401 Ventura Blvd., Encino, and 2631 Tapo Canyon Rd. in Simi Valley.

If you have questions about your purchase, call 800-462-3966.

San Diego-area stores that sold the boxes were in Chula Vista, Oceanside and San Diego, and they were sold in Fontana and Ontario Mills in the Inland Empire.

They were also sold in Oxnard and four stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, the store company told the state.

-- City News Service contributed to this report.