One Bakersfield Online - Bakersfield News

Top Stories

Current news headlines

Consumer Group Alerts Shoppers to Hidden Toy Hazards

By: Bill Curtis
7:09 PM Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Viewed 30 times. Rating: 0

Rate This Story —

City, State--Hazardous toys are still sold in stores across the country, despite a new law overhauling the nation¹s product safety watchdog agency, according to the 23rd annual toy safety survey released today by the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). The group also warned that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is taking actions to delay one of the new law¹s toxic toy protections indefinitely.

³While the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is a major step forward, many of its protections won¹t be in effect until 2009, so it¹s still Buyer Beware for this shopping season,² said CALPIRG¹s Pedro Morillas. ³Worse,
l
ast week the CPSC told companies that they could continue to sell toys with toxic phthalate chemicals until they ran out of them, instead of complying with the law¹s clear prohibition against selling them after February 10th.²

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 CALPIRG Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety
guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards.

Because of the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in August 2008, CALPIRG¹s research this year focused on new standards for toxic
toy dangers enacted by the law, using laboratory tests to identify toys that contain lead and toxic phthalates.

Among the findings of the 2008 Trouble In Toyland:

Lead in Toys and Children¹s 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% lead. CALPIRG researchers went to just a few stores and easily found three children¹s toys or jewelry containing high levels of lead or lead paint. One piece of jewelry we found was 45% lead by weight, or more than 750 times current CPSC action levels.

³Congress took important steps to address the serious health risks that lead poses to children, yet consumers can still find lead-laden children¹s jewelry and lead painted toys on store shelves until the protections take effect next year,² continued Morillas.

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 puberty, and lower sperm counts. Effective February 2009, the CPSIA bans toys for children that contain concentrations more than
0.1% of a toxic chemical used in plastics called phthalates. CALPIRG found toys that contained concentrations of phthalates up to 40%.

³Congress clearly intended that the new law would also stop the sale of toys containing toxic phthalates in February, but last week¹s CPSC legal opinion told manufacturers that can keep selling the remaining millions of hazardous toys until they run out, which could take years,² said Morillas. ³Congress gave America¹s littlest consumers the gift of safety‹they should not let the
CPSC take it away.²

Mr. Morillas noted that CALPIRG¹s DC office 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.

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. CALPIRG found toys with small parts for children under six without the required explicit choke
hazard warning.

³The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act gave the CPSC the tools it needs to do a better job for America¹s littlest consumers,² said Morillas.

³Now it¹s up to Congress to fully fund them and for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to vigorously carry out its new responsibilities.²

Mr. Morillas called on Congress and the CPSC to do the following:

* CPSC should vigorously enforce the CPSIA¹s strong protection against lead and reverse its recent decision allowing continued sale of toxic phthalates in children¹s products. CPSC must also move swiftly to implement all rules
required under the new law; must ensure that new third-party testing
programs meet the new law¹s standards; and, must also move quickly to implement the new law¹s publicly-accessible hazards database requirement.

* Congress and the Administration should work to overhaul U.S. toxics policy to begin to assess the thousands of chemicals currently on the market for which little or inadequate health data are available, and to require manufacturers to ensure that they are using the least hazardous chemicals possible.

* Congress should fully fund the CPSC¹s increased budget authorizations for the next five fiscal years, and conduct vigorous oversight over the implementation of the new law.

Mr. Morillas also reminded parents that the toy list in the CALPIRG report
is only a sampling of the potential hazards on store shelves, and urged
consumers to shop with a copy of PIRG¹s Tips for Toy Safety, included in the report and at www.toysafety.net.

³Shoppers should remember to examine all toys carefully for hidden dangers before you make a purchase this holiday season,² CALPIRG concluded.

CALPIRG, the California Public interest Research Group takes on powerful interests on behalf of its members, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. The full report is available at www.calpirg.org
.

More information on toy safety is available at
CALPIRG¹s www.toysafety.net site.

Reader Feedback

Error querying database: Table 'onebak_Content.News_Comments' doesn't exist