Hartford, Connecticut--Hazardous toys are still sold in stores across
the country, according to the 22nd annual toy safety survey released
today by the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG).
"While
we have seen progress after more than two decades of advocacy on behalf
of America's littlest consumers, PIRG researchers still found
trouble in toyland on store shelves this month," said ConnPIRG's
Jeffrey Czerwiec. "But recent high profile product recalls have
given us a chance to urge Congress to pass strong product safety
reforms, and give kids the best holiday gift of all."
According
to the most recent data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), toy-related injuries sent almost 73,000 children under the age
of five to emergency rooms in 2005. Twenty children died from
toy-related injuries that year.
For
22 years, the ConnPIRG 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.
ConnPIRG's 2007 research focused on several categories of toy dangers: toys
that pose choking hazards, toys with powerful magnets, toys that
contain lead, and toys that pose strangulation hazards. Most of the
recalls this year have been for hazards identified in previous editions
of the ConnPIRG report small powerful magnets, choking hazards and
toys with excessive levels of toxic lead, Czerwiec noted.
Among the findings of the 2007 Trouble In Toyland:
Lead
in Toys and Children's Jewelry: Children exposed to lead can suffer
lowered IQ, delayed mental and physical development and even death. In
2006, a four year old died of lead poisoning after he swallowed a
bracelet charm that contained 99% lead. ConnPIRG researchers went to
just a few stores and easily found four children's toys or jewelry
containing high, actionable levels of lead. One piece of jewelry we
found was 65% lead by weight, or over one thousand times current CPSC
action levels.
"We've
known for decades that lead poses serious health risks to children, yet
consumers can still find lead-laden children's jewelry and lead painted
toys on store shelves," continued Czerwiec.
According
to Sarah Uhl, Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy
Connecticut, "Lead in children's toys is one striking example of how
our nation's chemical safety system has failed. In the absence of
federal action, we need innovative state policies that will protect
people, and especially children, from involuntary exposure to toxic
chemicals found in common products."
Uhl
urged Connecticut lawmakers to invest in identifying and developing
safer alternatives to the toxics in use today, to protect consumers,
workers, and even the viability of CT companies competing in a changing
global marketplace, "We need to know how toxics are being used, and
which products contain them, and we need to require that safer
alternatives be used whenever feasible."
Magnetic
Toys: Toymakers have started using powerful magnets in building toys,
magnetic jewelry and children's play sets. If a child swallows more
than one magnet, they can attract each other in the body and cause a
bowel obstruction or life-threatening perforation. A 22-month old boy
died in 2005 and many others have needed life-saving surgery after
swallowing magnets. This year, the CPSC has recalled popular Mattel
toys, including Barbie and Polly Pockets, for poorly designed magnets
that fall out. Listed in the report are several examples of
sloppily-designed or poorly-labeled magnetic toys found by PIRG
researchers this fall.
"Swallowing a magnet is not like swallowing a penny. Powerful magnets can wreak havoc inside the body," cautioned Czerwiec.
Choking
Hazards: In 1979, the CPSC banned the sale of toys for children younger
than three if they contain small parts. The 1994 Child Safety
Protection Act required an explicit choke hazard warning on toys with
small parts for children aged between three and six.
ConnPIRG found toys for children under three with banned small parts and
toys with small parts for children under six without the required choke
hazard warning.
Other toy hazards found this year included toys containing other toxic
chemicals, excessively loud toys, and strangulation hazards.
"The
Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, is a little agency with a
big job it simply cannot do," said Czerwiec. "Congress needs to give it
the tools it needs to do that big job better."
Czerwiec called on Congress to pass the strongest possible product safety reforms under consideration:
"Congress should ban lead except at trace amounts. The PIRG-backed HR
3691, the SAFE Consumer Product Act, sponsored by Rep. DeLauro
(Conn.)and 150 co-sponsors, would reduce all lead levels in paint or
in the product -- to the level recommended by the American Academy of
Pediatrics, 40 parts per million or 15 times less than the current
allowable level of 600 ppm.
Congress should increase the budget and staffing of CPSC as much as
possible. CPSC has only one toy tester and a tiny force of 15
inspectors to check millions of toys at hundreds of ports of entry.
Congress should require companies to guarantee that their products have
been subject to independent third party testing before they put them on
toy store shelves. Congress should also give CPSC more tools to punish
companies that break the law.
"It
doesn't matter whether a toy is made in China or made in Kansas," said
Czerwiec. "Companies need to make sure that it is safe."
Czerwiec
also reminded parents that the toy list in the ConnPIRG report is only
a sampling of the potential hazards on store shelves.
"Shoppers
should remember that no government agency tests toys. You should
examine all toys carefully for hidden dangers before you make a
purchase this holiday season, and watch for further recalls," Czerwiec
concluded.
ConnPIRG,
the Connecticut Public Interest Research Groups takes on powerful interests
on behalf of its members, working to win concrete results for our
health and our well-being. The full report is available at
www.connpirg.org. More information on toy safety is available at PIRG's
toysafety.net site.
