Washington, DC-- Hazardous toys are still sold in stores across the
country, despite a new law overhauling the nation’s product safety
watchdog agency, according to the 23rd annual toy safety survey
released today. The group also warned that the Consumer Product Safety
Commission may delay one of the new law’s toxic toy protections
indefinitely.
“While the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is a major step
forward, many of its protections don’t take effect until 2009, so it’s
still ‘buyer beware’ for this shopping season,” said our federation toy
safety expert, U.S. PIRG’s Public Health Advocate Liz Hitchcock.
“Worse, last week the CPSC told companies that they could keep selling
toys with toxic phthalate chemicals until they ran out of them, despite
the law’s clear prohibition against selling them after Feb. 10.”
According
to the most recent data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), toy-related injuries sent more than 80,000 children under the
age of five to emergency rooms in 2007. Eighteen children died from
toy-related injuries that year.
For 23 years, the PIRG “Trouble in Toyland” report has offered
safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and has
provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose
potential safety hazards.
Because the Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed in August 2008, established new
standards for lead and phthalates, PIRG’s research this year used
laboratory tests to identify toys that contain those toxic chemicals.
?Among the findings of the 2008 Trouble In Toyland:
Toxic
Phthalates: Numerous scientists have documented the potential health
effects of exposure to phthalates in the womb or at crucial stages of
development, including (but not limited to) reproductive defects,
premature delivery, early onset of puberty and lower sperm counts.
Effective February 2009, the CPSIA bans toys that contain
concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of a toxic chemical called
phthalates. PIRG found toys that contained concentrations of phthalates
of up to 40 percent.
“Congress clearly intended the new law to
stop the sale of toys containing toxic phthalates in February, but last
week’s CPSC legal opinion told manufacturers that they can keep selling
the remaining millions of hazardous toys until they run out, which
could take years,” said Hitchcock. “Congress gave America’s littlest
consumers the gift of safety—they should not let the CPSC take it away.”
Hitchcock noted that U.S. PIRG and congressional champions intended
to take every possible action to overturn the CPSC decision and restore
the February 2009 ban on sale of toxic phthalate-laden toys.
Lead
in Toys and Children’s Jewelry: Children exposed to lead can suffer
lowered IQ, delayed mental and physical development and even death. In
2006, a four-year-old died of lead poisoning after he swallowed a
bracelet charm that contained 99 percent lead. PIRG researchers went to
just a few stores and easily found three children’s toys containing
high levels of lead or lead paint. One piece of jewelry was 45 percent
lead by weight, or more than 750 times current CPSC action levels.
The
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will eventually ban lead except
at trace amounts in paint or coatings (90 ppm limit as of August 2009)
or in any toys, jewelry or other products for use by children under 12
years old (100 ppm limit as of August 2011 after scheduled interim
reductions beginning February 2009).
“Congress took important steps to address the serious health risks
that lead poses to children, yet consumers can still find lead-laden
children’s jewelry and lead painted toys on store shelves until the
protections take effect next year,” continued U.S. PIRG’s Hitchcock.
??Choking Hazards: In 1979, the CPSC banned the sale of toys for
children younger than three if they contain small parts. The 1994 Child
Safety Protection Act required an explicit prominent choke hazard
warning on toys with small parts for children aged between three and
six. Researchers found toys with small parts for children under the age
of six that lacked the required explicit choke hazard warning.
“The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act gave the CPSC the tools
it needs to do a better job,” said Hitchcock. “Now it’s up to Congress
to fully fund those tools and for the CPSC to vigorously carry out its
new responsibilities.”
Hitchcock also reminded parents that the
toy list in the PIRG report is only a sampling of the potential hazards
on store shelves, and urged consumers to shop with a copy of PIRG’s
Tips for Toy Safety, included in the report and at www.toysafety.net.
“Shoppers should remember to examine all toys carefully for hidden
dangers before making a purchase this holiday season,” concluded
Hitchcock.
