Cooler but still well above normal this week

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support


      WASHINGTON (AP) — Shoppers awaiting this week's traditional
kick-off of the holiday shopping season should find plenty of safe
toys for children, but consumer advocates say some dangers still
lurk.


      A report released Tuesday from the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group found over a dozen toys on store shelves that violate federal
safety standards for lead and chemicals called phthalates or could
present a choking hazard to small children.


      The toys deemed potentially dangerous included a whirly wheel, a
plastic book for babies, a wooden blocks set and a Sesame Street
Oscar doll. The whirly wheel toy and the book had high levels of
lead; the blocks set had some pieces that were too small for
children under 3 and the Oscar doll had a hat that can come off
easily and present a choking hazard to little children, the report
said.


      PIRG also warned about toys that are too loud and could lead to
hearing damage as well as balloons, which cause more choking deaths
than any other children's product. About 40 percent of the choking
fatalities reported to the government between 1990 and 2010
involved balloons.


      Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at PIRG, says
industrial chemicals and toxins in toys were among the biggest
problems the group found this year. Lead can cause irreversible
brain damage, and some studies have linked phthalates to
reproductive problems.


      The toy industry downplayed the report and pointed to government
figures showing sharp declines in national toy recalls.


      "All eyes have been on toy safety for several years now," says
Joan Lawrence, the Toy Industry Association's vice president for
toy safety standards. "I am confident that the toys on store
shelves are safe. The toy industry works year-round on this."


      Government figures show a continued decline in toy recalls, with
34 in fiscal year 2011 - down from 46 recalls the previous year; 50
in 2009 and 172 in 2008. Recalls related to lead were down from 19
in 2008 to four recalls this past year.


      PIRG credited a 2008 law that set stronger standards for
children's products, including strict limits on lead, for helping
to make many of the products on store shelves safer for youngsters.
The law was passed in the wake of a wave of recalls of lead-tainted
toys.


      PIRG reviewed about 200 toys and other children's products from
major retailers and dollar stores for its 26th annual "Trouble in
Toyland" report.

Gallery

Disasters

Shoppers awaiting this week's traditional
kick-off of the holiday shopping season should find plenty of safe
toys for children, but consumer advocates say some dangers still
lurk.

Toy safety report finds some dangers

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox