Re: Toy Recalls

There is an organization called the Ecology Center that recently tested 1,268 toys and children's products. Thirty-five percent of them contained lead, mercury, cadmium, and/or arsenic. Only 23 of the toxic toys had been recalled (that comes out to less than two percent).

See: http://www.healthytoys.org/about.findings.php

The staff of the CPSC (the U.S. agency responsible for testing toys and other products) is half the size of what it was in the 1970's. It has one employee designated to test toys (the "Toy Czar"?). Toy companies are theoretically required to adhere to safety standards, but they are permitted to have the same factories that make their toys check them for safety, and reporting violations is voluntary. The maker of a Thomas the Tank engine spinning top found that the top's wooden handle had 40 times the legal limit for lead. It replaced it with a plastic knob, but then waited five years before ordering a recall of the 24,000 tops with lead that were sold between 2001 and 2002. Who knows how many other companies are doing this. This may be legal, but it's criminal.

See:

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/69272/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/company_sits_on.php

The Ecology Center's web site has a list that shows the safe and unsafe toys it tested (www.healthytoys.org). Be forwarned that the site is getting a lot of hits, and the server may be very slow when you try to access it. It's worth the wait -- it has some really fantastic information. While you're there, you can sign up to receive updates and action alerts on all the toys the Center tests.

Please buy toys that are made in parts of the world with a good reputation for safety. There is no guarantee that toys made in the U.S., E.U., etc. are safe, but there is a higher likelihood that they will be. Patronize companies that have a good track record for safety (Lego, e.g., has had only two toy recalls in the last 30 years, and the Lego brick tested by the Ecology Center had no toxic chemicals). Purchase toys made from natural materials when you can (I know they don't make wooden light sabers and Barbie dolls -- sometimes you have to make tough choices and compromises).

Please also write or call your elected representatives and tell them that current system for ensuring the safety of toys and children's products is unacceptable. As discussed above, California is already taking action. The federal government needs to wake up and do something too.