The PIRG survey of hazardous toys found that, despite recent progress, consumers must still be wary when shopping this holiday season.
The report reveals the results of laboratory testing on toys for toxic chemicals, including lead, chromium and phthalates, all of which can have serious adverse health impacts on a child's development. The survey also found examples of small toys that pose a choking hazard, extremely loud toys that threaten children's hearing and powerful toy magnets that can cause serious injury if swallowed.
"We should be able to trust that the toys we buy are safe," PIRG Public Health Campaign Director Sujatha Jahagirdar said. "However, until that's the case, parents need to watch out for common hazards when shopping for toys.
Key findings from the report include:
--Toys with high levels of toxic substances are still on store shelves. The study found toys containing phthalates well over legal limits, as well as toys with lead or chromium content above limits. For example, we found a toy tambourine with the heavy metal chromium at over nine times the legal limit of 60 ppm and several toys that violated phthalate limits.
--Despite a ban on small parts in toys for children under the age of 3, toys were available in stores that still pose choking hazards. For example, both in a store and online, there was a set of foam blocks marked "2 and up" that included several blocks that were small parts.
--Toys that are potentially harmful to children's ears and hearing were found. Although no toys violated current federal noise limits, many hearing experts believe that those rules need to be strengthened.
--Small, powerful magnets that pose a dangerous threat to children, if swallowed, were found. For example, there were two brands of small powerful magnet sets that have been recalled and are therefore illegal to be sold available online.
U.S. PIRG and CFA urge parents or caregivers who identify an unsafe toy or children's product to report the potential safety problem to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov. This will also provide key information to other consumers who may own or may be considering purchasing that toy.
For 29 years, the U.S. PIRG Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children, and provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards.
However, the Toy Industry Association disputes PIRG's findings. In a statement, the association said that analysis of PIRG's reports between 2008 and 2013 "were based on improper testing methods that are not approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal regulatory agency charged with toy safety oversight, and fail to support PIRG's allegations that the identified toys (defined as objects designed, manufactured or marketed as playthings for children under 14 years of age) present any danger to children at play."
MORE INFORMATION
Read the full PIRG report.
Toy Industry Association