Calls passage of strong reforms good step forward, but warns
“Buyer Beware” this year
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 at news
conferences around the state by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group
(Maryland PIRG). The group 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 Fielding Huseth,
program associate for Maryland PIRG. “Last week the CPSC told companies that
they could continue to sell toys with toxic phthalate chemicals until they ran
out of stock, instead of complying with the law’s clear prohibition against
selling toxic toys 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 Maryland PIRG 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, Maryland PIRG’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.
“As a parent, I already have so many hazards to worry about
for my child. Her toys should not be added to the list of dangers in her life,”
said Elena Varipatis Baker, a concerned mother from Baltimore.
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. Maryland PIRG 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 may still find lead-laden
children’s jewelry and lead painted toys on Maryland store shelves until the
protections take effect next year,” said Attorney General Doug Gansler,
“Consumers need to review product safety guidelines for children’s toys and pay
attention to product recalls and alerts.”
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. Maryland PIRG 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 Huseth.
“Congress gave America’s
littlest consumers the gift of safety—they should not let the CPSC take it
away.”
Huseth noted that Maryland PIRG’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. Maryland PIRG 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
Huseth. “Now it’s up to Congress to
fully fund them and for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to vigorously
carry out its new responsibilities.”
Huseth 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.
- Congress
should fully fund the CPSC’s increased budget authorizations for the next five
fiscal years, and conduct vigorous oversight over the implementation of the new
law.
Huseth also reminded parents that the toy list in the
Maryland PIRG report is only a sampling of the potential hazards on store
shelves, and urged consumers to shop with a copy of Maryland 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,” Huseth
concluded.
# # #
Maryland PIRG, the Maryland 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.marylandpirg.org. More information
on toy safety is available at PIRG’s toysafety.net site.
