Toy Recalls

Just curious how many of you bought Made in USA toys this season.  We did, and our boys loved them!  I have many friends and family members who are making the switch, too.

Our favorite was a kitchen from Little Colorado.

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.

Not all of the recalls have been for toys made in China. Of the 72 toy recalls for 2007 listed on the CPSC web site, only 69 of them were for toys manufactured in China. Two were for toys made in "Hong Kong" (which, last time I checked, was returned to China by the Brits in 1997 -- Gordon Brown didn't take it back while I wasn't looking, did he?). One recall was for toys made in Mexico.

Now to be fair, about 80% of toys sold in the U.S. are made in China, so you would expect a larger percentage of the recalls to be from that part of the world. Also, the manufacturers are not entirely to blame. The toy companies that have outsourced their production to a country with a history of extreme poverty, corruption and lax regulatory enforcement are primarily responsible. If they're going to make things over there, they need to spend a lot more money on quality control. When you pay your workers $1.50 an hour, you should be able to afford to fork out a little more for safety! And speaking of lax regulatory enforcement, the CPSC has one (yes, one) employee testing toys -- independent labs are identifying many more dangerous toys than our own government regulators (do those who believe in small government, free trade and letting industry police itself still think these are good ideas?).

See http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/toy-country-47110....

I am also responsible. In the past, I have bought most toys and other things without thinking where and how they were made. I have looked for the lowest price without considering that the price tag doesn't include the social and environmental cost. I have invested in companies without becoming familiar with or questioning their business practices. Not anymore. I'm making a pledge to consume less and buy green whenever possible.

Please buy green toys and products to the extent you are able, don't feel guilty when you can't, enjoy life, and love one another this holiday season and always.

Links to U.S. made toys:

http://usmadetoys.com/

http://www.teddybees.com/made-in-usa-toys.html#list

http://stillmadeinusa.com/shoppingindex.html

If you're looking for mass marketed toys that you don't have to buy on the Internet, most toys made by Playmobil and Lego are made in Europe. They're plastic, of course, but are not made in China.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/worldbusiness/18toys.html?hp

According to CPSC data, Lego has only had two toy recalls in the U.S. since 1975, and Playmobil has only had one.