With the holiday shopping season set to begin, a consumer group in Massachusetts is out with its annual warning about toy safety.
Despite decades of consumer warnings and product safety crackdowns by the government, the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group says it still found toys on store shelves this year that could cause harm to small children.
" We found these toys everywhere from dollar stores to big box chains," said Hillary Weber of the MassPIRG Education Fund, who displayed a sampling of the dangerous toys at a news conference in Springfield, one of a half dozen news conferences scheduled simultaneously across the state Tuesday morning to announce the release of the group’s 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.
MassPIRG credits the annual survey of toy safety for leading to over 150 product recalls and other regulatory actions. This year’s report identifies 20 toys that pose a risk to children from choking, loud noise, or toxic materials.
"Some of the most dangerous hazards posed by toys are invisible because they come in the form of toxic substances like the heavy metal chromium and the chemical phthalates," said Weber.
She said preliminary tests found three toys, including a Slinky Junior, that contain potentially unsafe levels of chromium. The chemical can cause severe allergic reactions with it comes in contact with the skin, producing redness, swelling and ulcers.
The MassPIRG investigators found a toy car, a plane, and a fairy wand that have small parts that could break off and cause a child to choke, but the toys had an incorrect warning label, or no label at all.
Five toys, including a toy animal and a remote control, were flagged for producing noise at a decibel level that could harm the ears of young children.
Weber urged shoppers to consult the information available at toysafetytips.org. and examine toys carefully before purchasing. She said a common household item – the cardboard roll that toilet paper is wrapped around – remains the best way to check for a potential choking hazard.
" If a toy, or part of a toy that could break off, will fit in this ( toilet paper roll) tube, it is too small for a child under the age of three," explained Weber.
MassPIRG is calling on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to impose more stringent requirements on small toy objects.
" We are particularly concerned about toy food, because of the tendency of children to put things in their mouths anyway," said Weber.
At Tuesday’s news conference held at the downtown Springfield YMCA, State Rep. Jose Tosado commended MassPIRG for the report.
"I count on them to do the work and do the research and point out to us the things that are not obvious that we need to know about to keep our children safe," said Tosado.
In the past, the Toy Industry Association has taken issue with the Trouble in Toyland report. It said none of the items identified in last year’s MassPIRG report were ever subject to a government recall.
