NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release:	Contact:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009	Tracy Shelton 917-570-9027 tshelton@nypirg.org

Parents Beware - Many Toys Still Toxic, Hazardous
New Mobile Toy Tool Can Help Parents Shop Safe

Leading Environmental Health Groups Tested More than 700 New Children’s Products for Lead, PVC, Cadmium, and Other Harmful Chemicals

Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on New York’s store shelves, Just Green and NYPIRG announced in NYPIRG’s 24th annual Trouble in Toyland report and in the Ecology Center’s latest research.

The Trouble in Toyland report, along with a new interactive tool accessible via smart phone or computer – http://toysafety.mobi or http://www.toysafety.net – will help parents and other toy-buyers avoid some common hazards. The Ecology Center’s new data is available at www.HealthyStuff.org, along with a wide variety of other products to help consumers make better choices when shopping for their families. At www.nypirg.org, consumers can view a list of toys recently identified by surveyors on shelves in New York stores that have been found to be toxic (based on Ecology Center data) or otherwise dangerous to young children (according to the national Trouble in Toyland research).

“Now parents can shop safely and avoid purchasing potentially dangerous toys for their kids,” said C. C. Song, a NYPIRG Consumer Advocate based at Queens College. “And with our new, interactive tool, parents and other consumers can report toys they think are hazardous so we can investigate them and report hazards to the federal government,” she added.

Despite public outrage and new consumer protections to restrict lead and phthalates in children’s products, the Ecology Center’s latest research of popular children’s toys and apparel still found lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, chlorine (PVC), arsenic, and other harmful substances on store shelves. This year’s findings show that lead – which has been linked to developmental and learning disabilities – is still being found in many products. However, an analysis of three years of test data shows the number of toys with elevated lead has been decreasing steadily.

The 2009 Trouble in Toyland report and the interactive website focus on three categories of toy hazards: toys that may pose choking hazards, toys that are excessively loud, and toys that contain the toxic chemicals lead and phthalates.

NYPIRG and Just Green noted that some progress has been made on toy safety in the past year, thanks to a new law overhauling the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

“But there’s no magic wand to fix the CPSC, and making products safer won’t happen overnight,” said Jackieleen Verdejo, a NYPIRG Consumer Advocate based at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. “Restoring consumer confidence in the products we buy will take continued hard work on the part of the CPSC and responsible retailers and manufacturers.”

In fact, according to the most recent data from the CPSC, toy-related injuries sent more than 82,000 children under the age of five to emergency rooms in 2008. Nineteen children died from toy-related injuries that year.

The findings in this year’s Trouble in Toyland report and in the extensive research done by the Ecology Center highlight the need for continued improvement in order to protect America’s children:

Despite a ban on small parts in toys for children under three, there are still toys available that pose serious choking hazards. Between 1990 and 2008, at least 196 children died after choking or asphyxiating on a toy or toy part; three died in 2008 alone.

Some toys tested exceeded 85 decibels sound level, which is the volume threshold established under American Society for Testing and Materials standards. Almost 15 percent of children aged 6 to 17 show signs of hearing loss.

Earlier this year, toys and other children’s products with phthalate concentrations greater than 0.1% were banned. Still, this year’s research found children’s products that contained concentrations of phthalates greater than the banned amount.

This year’s research found lead-laced toys on store shelves. Lead has negative health effects on almost every organ and system in the human body.

For 24 years, the 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. The third annual report by the Ecology Center included the test results of over 700 children’s products.

Click here to read the full report.