As the recall madness grows to a fever pitch, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has released its 22nd annual survey of toy safety. The 2007 Trouble in Toyland report reveals that dozens of toys currently on store shelves may pose potential safety hazards. The report focused on four toy categories: those that may pose choking hazards; magnetic toys; excessively loud toys; and toys containing lead and other potentially toxic chemicals. The report also offers safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children.
According to an Executive Summary by U.S. PIRG, even though toys sold today are much safer than ever, “thanks to decades of work by product safety advocates and parents and the leadership of Congress, state legislatures and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC),” this year’s multiple recalls should remind us that “no government agency tests toys before they are put on the shelves.”
PIRG’s report highlights what it calls “the limits of the long-neglected Consumer Product Safety Commission specifically.” According to PIRG, the CPSC—the nation’s smallest safety agency—is nevertheless responsible for 15,000 different products. It suffers from an anemic budget—its $63 million is less than half of its 1974 startup budget (adjusted for inflation to equate to today’s dollars); it has only one toy tester at its Maryland laboratory; and only 15 of 400 total staff are full-time port inspectors. The good news, says the report, is that the agency’s budget is expected to be expanded, and policymakers are planning to help the CPSC “hold corporate wrongdoers accountable and speed recalls, to ban toxic lead except in trace amounts and to greatly improve import surveillance.”
Likewise, on November 13, The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) and MomsRising.org released information saying that it found “extremely high levels of lead in multiple children’s products.” These include children’s backpacks, rain ponchos, and vinyl lunchboxes. The testing found lead levels ranging from 3,700 parts per million (ppm) to more than 9,100 ppm in four backpacks and one Disney-licensed backpack tested at over 13,000 ppm of lead, more than 21 times the legal limit (600 ppm) for lead in paint, says the CEH.
Several other reports with similar findings have been released, including one by the Environmental Health Project of the Ecology Center that found such results as: more than 6,700 ppm of lead in animal figurines; 3,056 ppm in a Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game pack; 1,700 ppm lead in baby shoes; 6,733 ppm in My Pasture Play Set: Monkey; 3,056 ppm in Hannah Montana pop star card game pack; 1,487 ppm in a bath squirt toy from Target, 5,197 ppm in Circo shoes from Target; and 7,132 ppm in Tyrell Katz vinyl backpack. The full findings can be read here.
Some of the focus of fixing these problems has fallen to the Toy Industry Association (TIA), a not-for-profit trade association for producers and importers of toys and youth entertainment products sold in North America. According to its “Commitment to Safety” section, Carter Keithley, President of the Toy Industry Association, writes that in order to secure the optimum levels in safety the group is pursuing rigorous procedures in product testing; establishing new testing by accredited labs; keeping communication open to consumers; and doing all it can to improve safety at every level of toy manufacturing.
In its “What the Toy Industry Is Doing” section, the TIA says that the toy industry is “putting special focus on assuring the safety of painted toys for young children (who are more likely to mouth toys and other objects) by sending them back to laboratories for re-testing.” Sophisticated new lead-testing equipment for spot checks in warehouses and distribution centers has been brought in as well, and there is a new demand for certified reassurances that products meet all U.S. standards. This includes all materials and subcomponents obtained from sources other than the manufacturing plants.
Safety monitoring continues at warehouses where toy companies conduct tests on random samples of toy products before they are shipped to stores. These tests occur in company labs as well as in independent laboratories, and spot-testing also happens with items on retailers’ store shelves. While most companies already send products to accredited labs to test paint safety, there has been new emphasis on testing the paint when it comes into the factory, both before it is applied and again after it is on the toys.
In the months ahead, the Toy Industry Association plans to work with government officials, consumer groups and industry leaders to increase safety standards. They will be working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to establish consistent toy safety testing and inspecting by labs that are competent and accredited. They will be communicating better with consumer groups to make sure they hear and respond to consumer concerns. By working with various health and safety experts, they will provide parents with relevant health and safety information from reputable organizations.
No doubt this year will revolutionize the toy industry, at least in the area of safety. You can rely on SafeToys.com to stay on top of this subject and to provide up-to-date information on progress being made.