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 by the OSPIRG
Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG). The group also warned that
the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is taking actions to
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 won’t be in effect until 2009, so it’s
still Buyer Beware for this shopping season,” said OSPIRG’s
Kendal Lenton. “Worse, last 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 law’s clear
prohibition against selling them after February 10th.”
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 OSPIRG 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, OSPIRG’s 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 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% lead. OSPIRG researchers went to just a few
stores and easily found three children’s 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.
“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 Lenton.
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. OSPIRG found toys that contained concentrations
of phthalates up to 40%.
“Congress clearly intended that the
new law would also stop the sale of toys containing toxic phthalates
in February, but last week’s CPSC legal opinion told manufacturers
that can keep selling the remaining millions of hazardous toys until
they run out, which could take years,” said Lenton. “Congress
gave America’s littlest consumers the gift of safety—they should
not let the CPSC take it away.”
Lenton noted that OSPIRG’S 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. OSPIRG found
toys with small parts for children under six without the required
explicit choke hazard warning.
“The
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act gave the CPSC the tools it
needs to do a better job for America’s littlest consumers,” said
Lenton. “Now it’s up to Congress to fully fund them and for the
Consumer Product Safety Commission to vigorously carry out its new
responsibilities.”
Lenton called on Congress and the CPSC
to do the following:
-
CPSC should vigorously enforce the
CPSIA’s strong protection against lead and reverse its recent
decision allowing continued sale of toxic phthalates in children’s
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 law’s standards; and, must also move
quickly to implement the new law’s 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.
Lenton also reminded parents that the
toy list in the OSPIRG 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 you make a
purchase this holiday season,” Lenton concluded.
To read the full report, click here
