Tegu, the toymaker of these engaging magnetic blocks, aims to create safe non-toxic toys and is devoted to addressing unemployment and fostering entrepreneurship in Honduras, where the blocks are made.
Over the past few months, I’ve been hearing from increasingly more moms about their children’s high levels of lead. Most recently, I’ve been hearing about children in modern buildings having high levels of lead. For some reason, I had the impression that lead was an older issue, mostly a concern in older homes. I’ve been surprised to learn how pervasive it still is, recently hearing that it has been found in our (NYC) drinking water, some Pottery Barn ceramic dinnerware, reusable grocery bags, and many toys!
Toy companies are not required to divulge what’s in their products
Yesterday’s LA Times had a great article, Before You Buy That Train Set, Do Your Homework by Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, recommending that parents research their potential toy purchases.
Many of the 80,000 chemicals used in manufacturing are used in toys and other children’s products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the government agency responsible for protecting the public from hazards in consumer products, regulates only 14 chemicals in toys: eight heavy metals and six phthalates, which are used to soften plastic. The phthalates, which have been linked to reproductive and developmental abnormalities in animal studies, have been restricted only since 2008. Toy companies, unlike food manufacturers, are not required to divulge what’s in their products.
A ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene. Sets of toy drums and a toy bear were also recalled because of lead paint, and an infant wrist rattle was recalled because of a choking hazard.
– “As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China” in The NY Times online, by Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, June 19, 2007
Ms. Mascarelli continues: The U.S. government has since adopted a handful of regulatory measures to hold companies more accountable and to tighten restrictions on the use of toxic substances. But there are many toxic chemicals in toys that are not regulated at all, says Rachel Massey, a policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and a coauthor of a November study on gaps in regulation of toxic substances in toys and children’s products. Cases highlighted in the media for violation of standards are just “the tip of the iceberg,” she says.
Toy Recalls in the Media Are Just The Tip of the Iceberg…
Ms. Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, writes: “Most famously, in 2007, Mattel — the largest toy company in the world and the brand behind such household names as Ken and Barbie — recalled more than 2 million toys that were in violation of the U.S. standards for lead in paint. The total recall count that year because of lead paint violations: more than 17 million.”
Lead causes permanent brain damage. Lead exposure — even in relatively small doses — has been linked to learning disabilities, behavioral problems, reproductive issues, even violence.
Beware of Toys Made in China
A NY Times article in 2007, As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China, stated: “Over all, the number of products made in China that are being recalled in the United States by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has doubled in the last five years, driving the total number of recalls in the country to 467 last year, an annual record… It also means that China today is responsible for about 60 percent of all product recalls, compared with 36 percent in 2000.”
China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets… The toys were coated at a factory in China with lead paint, which can damage brain cells, especially in children.
– “As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China” in The NY Times online, by Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, June 19, 2007
Tips for Buying Safer Toys
Ms. Mascarelli offers a great summary of tips that are below. Please visit her article for even more information: Before You Buy That Train Set, Do Your Homework by Amanda Leigh Mascarelli.
- Avoid buying costume jewelry for children. As lead has come under closer scrutiny, cadmium is increasingly being used as a substitute for lead in paint, toys and children’s jewelry. Cadmium is a neurotoxin and carcinogen that children can be exposed to when they handle, suck or swallow the product. In January, the CPSC recalled a large quantity of children’s costume jewelry because it was found to contain high levels of cadmium.
- Avoid purchasing vinyl products, also known as PVC (for polyvinyl chloride) when possible. These are several times more likely to contain hazardous additives compared with other plastics, says Jeff Gearhart, research director for HealthyStuff.org, a consumer product testing website. Items made with synthetic leather, such as kids’ baseball gloves, often contain vinyl. Vinyl products may also include certain balls, children’s bracelets and other rubbery and flexible items.
- Inspect the plastic labeling and product packaging and look for the familiar triangular recycling symbol containing a “3″ with a “V” underneath the symbol. The labeling is not universal but is used on a significant number of vinyl products. Flexible, rubbery plastic products that emit a distinct odor are often good indicators that the product contains a vinyl plasticizer, Gearhart says. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice has a PVC-free guide.
- Don’t buy brightly colored plastics when purchasing items that a young child might put in his or her mouth. Despite the recent tightening of federal regulations, these plastics could contain cadmium, lead, organotins or other toxic pigments or stabilizers, Massey says.
- Consult sites such as Healthystuff.org and Goodguide.com to find out if certain toys contain brominated flame retardants (BFRs) — found in baby products, such as mattress pads, and toys, such as dolls, swords, action figures and ones made of foam and rubber. BFRs have been linked to a number of adverse health effects, and one family of BFRs is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Healthystuff.org and Goodguide.com both screen for bromine, which is a likely indicator of BFRs. Choose products that have low or no bromine content.
- When buying toys that contain textiles or leather garments, be conscious of “azo dyes,” which are widely used in the textile and leather industries. Azo dyes can form cancer-causing compounds when inhaled, absorbed through the skin or taken up by the gastrointestinal tract. Unfortunately, since these chemicals are not regulated, the best way to avoid them is to select toys made of wood and natural products, or toys that bear eco-labels, which are becoming more widespread. When buying a textile product such as a doll or stuffed animal, look for a European eco-label such as Oeko-Tex, which can be found in some specialty toy stores. The European Union has much stricter regulations on toxic chemicals than does the U.S.
- Choking on toys, toy parts, balls and balloons is a hazard for children younger than 3. From 1990 to 2007, 196 children died after choking or asphyxiating on a toy or toy part,, according to U.S. PIRG, an umbrella consumer-advocacy organization for individual state Public Interest Research Groups. Use an empty toilet paper roll to test whether a toy or toy part may be a choking hazard. If the item passes through a toilet paper roll, it is too small for children younger than 3 or children who put toys in their mouths.
Also watch out for parts that are barely larger than this industry standard, because children have choked on parts that are larger, says Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate for U.S. PIRG. “We always caution parents to really look hard at a toy, take it out of the box and use it before they put it in the hands of their child,” Hitchcock says. “See if there are parts that will break off, and don’t just rely on the label.”
- Do not buy products bearing the California Proposition 65 label with wording similar to this: “Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”
- Avoid toys containing small magnets that can be swallowed. When ingested, strong magnets will attract to each other and can cause serious internal injuries.
- Though these are few and far between, look for toys and children’s products that have labels indicating what ingredients were used to make them.
- Check out lists put together by groups that have conducted tests on toys. Healthystuff.org (www.healthystuff.org), run by Ecology Center, a nonprofit organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich., does independent testing on a range of consumer products including toys, providing snapshots, available online, of potential chemical hazards. Healthystuff.org has screened more than 5,000 toys since beginning its testing in 2007. It uses an X-ray technology to look for hazardous substances, but the technology can’t detect all chemicals of concern. It ranks products by level of concern based on about 10 priority chemicals. GoodGuide.com ranks products, including toys, based on (among other things) environmental and health effects.
- Among the toy recalls, the problem is most acute with low-price, no-brand-name toys that are often sold at dollar stores and other deep discounters, which are manufactured and sent to the United States often without the involvement of major American toy importers. Last year, China also was the source of 81 percent of the counterfeit goods seized by Customs officials at ports of entry in the United States — products that typically are not made according to the standards on the labels they are copying. (“As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China” in The NY Times online, by Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, June 19, 2007)
- Toys made in China make up 70 to 80 percent of the toys sold in the country, according to the Toy Industry Association, which represents most American toy companies and importers. (“As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China” in The NY Times online, by Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, June 19, 2007)
- China’s own government auditing agency reported last month that 20 percent of the toys made and sold in China had safety hazards such as small parts that could be swallowed or sharp edges that could cut a child, according to a report in China Daily. Officials in China, of course, are fighting back, insisting that its food and other exports are safe and valuable, that new regulations are being put into place and that problem goods account for a tiny portion of all exports. (“As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China” in The NY Times online, by Eric S. Lipton and David Barboza, June 19, 2007)
Safer Toy Options
There are some beautiful and engaging wooden toys that are a stimulating and low-toxic option. Some of our favorites are in the Amazon widget below:
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