Lead, other chemicals remain a worry in toys

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WASHINGTON — Despite a new law that bans six chemicals from children's products and lowers the amount of lead allowed, a public interest group has found a number of toys at major retailers that contain the outlawed chemicals and illegal amounts of lead.

In a report released Tuesday, "Trouble in Toyland," U.S. PIRG found that although many manufacturers and retailers are complying with the new law, a handful are not, and it is difficult for consumers to distinguish between the two.

"We have seen substantial progress over the last year because of the new law and new leadership at the Consumer Product Safety Commission," said Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate at U.S. PIRG.

"At the same time, we are seeing some products that slip through the cracks."

For the past 24 years, U.S. PIRG has released a report about toy safety at the start of the holiday season.

This is the first report since Congress approved sweeping changes to consumer safety laws in 2008.

The laws were changed in response to thousands of toys imported from China in the past several years that were discovered to contain dangerously high levels of lead. At the same time, concerns have been growing about a family of chemicals known as phthalates that are widely found in plastic toys and have been linked to reproductive disorders and other health problems.

Congress overwhelmingly voted to outlaw phthalates from children's products while at the same time significantly cutting the amount of lead allowed in those products.

Choking is the number one cause of toy-related deaths and injuries, according to the report. Hitchcock said not all toys bear the required choking warnings and that if a toy can fit into a toilet paper tube it is too small for children under three.

The group is also concerned about toys that just barely meet CPSC standards on small parts. U.S. PIRG encouraged the agency to make the choking standards more strict.

Hitchcock encouraged parents to use http:toysafety.mobi, specially designed for use with mobile phones, to look up toy hazards while they are shopping.

On the lead issue, U.S. PIRG sent 15 children's products to an independent laboratory to test whether they contained lead or phthalates.

Four were found to have excessive lead levels; two contained phthalates.

For example, a children's jewelry charm made by Claire's Boutiques was 71 percent lead by weight, when the legal limit is only 0.03 percent.

A cloth book aimed at toddlers, "Rex and Friends," which was purchased from Toys R Us, contained 0.19 percent lead. After being notified by PIRG, Toys R Us stopped selling the book, but it is still available through other retailers. A Pretty Princess Puppy Purse from Claire's Boutiques contained 5.4 percent of one of the banned phthalates; an Elmo lunch bag made by Sassy contained 7.2 percent of another banned phthalate.

On Monday, Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum told reporters that "parents and grandparents can have more confidence this year than ever before" because of the new law. Toy recalls have dropped from 162 last year to 38 so far this year, she said. Recalls of children's products with excessive lead levels have decreased from 85 last year to 15 this year, she said.

Since she became chairman of the commission in June, Tenenbaum traveled twice to China and Southeast Asia to discuss "how to build safety into toys" with her Asian counterparts. The Chinese government shuttered several toy factories because of concerns about product safety, she said. "The Chinese are taking toy safety very seriously," Tenenbaum said.

Still, shoppers have no way of telling whether the products on store shelves comply with the law, Hitchcock said. "To take a product that you buy and send it off to a laboratory costs some money and is not something that parents can or should have to do with a product," Hitchcock said.

U.S. PIRG is launching an interactive tool with toy safety tips that shoppers can access with a cellphone while they are shopping, she said. The report also examined toys that pose a choking hazard to small children and those that make excessive noise, which can cause hearing loss in children. The report, and the mobile site, will be posted by Wednesday at www.uspirg.org/issues/toy-safety?id4

NR.

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