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Playing It Safe

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By MARY SHEDDEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2007

TAMPA - With the infamous Black Friday shopping day just around the corner, consumer advocates and federal agencies on Tuesday issued a slew of consumer toy safety warnings.

From Tampa to Washington, D.C., to California, potentially harmful toys were carted out and singled out for their tiny, easy-to-swallow parts or toxic lead content. The traditional holiday announcements, however, were punctuated by talk of recent toy and jewelry recalls and the national debate over safety standards for products produced primarily in China.

"Parents and family members must be vigilant in shopping for their toys this holiday season, whether it's made in China or not," said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa. She has co-sponsored bills that would increase the government's oversight of toys and other products.

Castor and several consumer groups highlighted suspect toys, such as baby dolls with tiny parts, metallic jewelry and excessively loud guitars. They also criticized the lack of independent safety testing and the continued availability of dangerous toys on store shelves.

"No government agency tests toys before they reach the toy shelves," said Brad Ashwell, spokesman for the Florida branch of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, sponsor of the 22nd annual survey of toy safety.

His group urges consumers to avoid hazards that in 2005 were responsible for sending nearly 73,000 children under age 5 to emergency rooms. Twenty died from these toy-related injuries, according to the government statistics.

Two key concerns dominated both the PIRG warnings, as well as recommendations issued Tuesday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Choking hazards and magnetic toy pieces cause many injuries to children who instinctively place objects in their mouths. They also are the source of multiple recent toy recalls.

Test Size To Determine Choking Hazard

"My own 3-year-old twins put everything in their mouth," said Neil Reinhardt, associate director of Tampa General Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Department. He encouraged parents to use a small toilet paper tube to find appropriate toys. If it slides through the tube, a small child could choke on the toy.

Magnets, which can be lethal when more than one is ingested, also merited serious warnings. Ashwell said children under age 6 should not be near the toys. If more than one is swallowed, medical attention is needed immediately, he said. When two or more magnets or even metal parts are swallowed, they can connect and tear holes in the stomach or intestinal tissues, causing the lining to bleed or develop an infection.

Other key toy hazards mentioned by the different groups include: scooters, bicycles, riding toys and skateboards that could lead to dangerous falls; projectile toys such as air rockets, darts and sling slots; and chargers and adapters that can pose burn hazards.

Consumer groups took the opportunity Tuesday to highlight the source of many of the national toy recalls. Lead-based paint is banned in the United States, but has been found this year in millions of Chinese-made toys.

"Lead is an insidious, sneaky poison," Reinhardt said. Lead poisoning shows no outward symptoms, but can cause brain and other neurological damage in young children and pregnant women.

Nancy Nord, acting chief of the safety commission, noted that the Chinese government recently had signed agreements to help prevent lead-painted toys from reaching the United States and that the commission is "taking the action needed to remove volatile products from the marketplace."

She also issued safety tips in a two-page release that called on parents to "stay informed" about safety risks by reading product warning labels and signing up for direct e-mail notification of recalls at www.cpsc.gov.

"Toys today are undergoing more inspection and more intense scrutiny than ever before," Nord said.

Consumer groups, however, repeated their criticisms of Nord, who opposes bills aimed at increasing the number of safety inspectors at the commission.

Risk Continues, Groups Say

In its 57-page annual toy safety survey, U.S. PIRG noted that between 1990 and 2005, at least 166 children choked to death on children's products, accounting for more than half of all toy-related deaths, the group said.

Several times this year, potentially dangerous toys were sold without the required warning labels of possible choking risks, and the safety commission also has been slow to issue public warnings, the group said.

PIRG and Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Environmental Health also pointed to continuing risks involving lead-tainted toys, millions of which were recalled this year.

Their report follows Monday's announcement that California Attorney General Jerry Brown was suing 20 companies in state court.

In a four-day investigation of toys it purchased at stores such as Target, Wal-Mart and The Disney Store, the Center for Environmental Health found that nine of the 100 toys it purchased had lead levels of 900 parts per million or more. The current lead paint standard for toys sold in the United States is 600 parts per million.

Toys included ceramic tea sets, plastic bats and balls and other toys. The testing is not identical to what the safety commission uses to determine whether products merit recalls.

Additionally, six toys had levels higher than 100 parts per million, the approximate trace level some consumer groups would like to see as the limit whether in paint, coatings or any toys, jewelry or other products used by children under 12.

"It's the start of the holiday shopping season," senior center researcher Caroline Cox said. "There should not be these land mines out there."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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