Parents Beware – Many Toys Still Toxic, Hazardous

Arizona PIRG Education Fund and Phoenix Children’s Hospital Offers Tips and Interactive Tools to Help Consumers Shop Safely

Arizona PIRG Education Fund

According to the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves.

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund released the 25th annual Trouble in Toyland report, which reveals the results of laboratory testing for toxic chemicals and identifies toys that pose choking hazards, at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital.  Trouble in Toyland also includes guidance for avoiding common hazards.

“While there has been a lot of progress, there is still danger in the toy box,” said Diane E. Brown, Executive Director of the Arizona PIRG Education Fund.  “The Arizona PIRG Education Fund’s report and the resources we offer will help consumers identify and avoid the worst threats and keep their children safe this year,” Brown explained.

For 25 years, the State PIRG’s Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards.  The group also provides an interactive website with tips for safe toy shopping that consumers can access on their smartphones at www.toysafety.mobi.
   
Key findings from the report include:

•    In 2009, many toys and other children’s products containing more than 0.1% of phthalates were banned. Still, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund found children’s products, including a baby doll that contained concentrations of phthalates up to 30%.

•    Despite a ban on small parts in toys for children under three, there are still toys available that pose serious choking hazards, including a toy train with a wooden peg that, while compliant with current standards, nearly led to the choking death of a D.C.-area toddler.

•    Lead and other metals have been severely restricted in toys in the past two years, but the Arizona PIRG Education Fund researchers found toys containing toxic lead and antimony on store shelves. Lead has negative health effects on almost every organ and system in the human body, and antimony is classified as a human carcinogen.  Laboratory testing revealed one preschool book with antimony far above the limits and the Arizona PIRG Education Fund has notified the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund noted that progress has been made on toy safety in the past two years thanks to a 2008 PIRG-backed law overhauling the CPSC, as well as new leadership at the agency.

“The CPSC is doing a good job under its expanded authority, but there is still more work to be done, especially when it comes to eliminating choking hazards and regulating the tens of thousands of chemicals that are in the toys our children play with every day,” said Brown.

According to the most recent data from the CPSC, toy-related injuries sent more than 250,000 children – 90,000 under the age of five – to emergency rooms in 2009. Twelve children died from toy-related injuries that year.