Gaps Remaining in Toy Safety

Despite improvements in toy regulations and labeling requirements, parents should remain vigilant, even in light of the CPSC's leadership. Consumers looking for toys still face an industry full of safety loopholes; once toys fall through, it is difficult to remove them from the market.

Loopholes in Toy Safety Regulation
Many companies do not adequately comply with the specifics of the law and allow
potentially dangerous toys to be produced, marketed and sold. Toy manufacturers and importers continue to sell toys for children under three that violate the small parts regulations and pose choking hazards to children. A PIRG study of toys recalled by the CPSC in 2002 found that 71 percent were recalled as choking or aspiration hazards. (See Appendix 4 for data).

Even when companies do comply with the laws, the current regulations do not address all of the choking hazards posed by toys. Since 1980, at least 12 children have choked to death on balls ranging in size between 1.25" and 1.75" in diameter, the respective sizes of the old and new small ball test. While the choking test cylinder eliminates most objects small enough to enter a child's lower throat and air passages, it does not eliminate all objects that can block the airway by obstructing the mouth and upper throat. Children continue to choke on toys that do not technically violate the CPSC regulation.

Not all manufacturers are in full compliance with the CSPA warning label requirements. Many older toys are still on toy shelves, and neither Congress nor the CPSC requires manufacturers to update old packaging with new warnings. The 2002 PIRG toy list includes toys without choke hazard labels or with non-statutory labels.

The CPSC often lacks the resources to adequately monitor the thousands of new toy products introduced nationally. The FY03 budget proposed by the White House and the House of Representatives allows only $56.767 million for the CPSC's budget, an allocation that falls $1.05 million short of inflation and will reduce the agency's staff to 471, the smallest number of full-time staff it has ever employed. ( Rachel Weintraub, "US Consumer Product Safety Commission 2003 Budget Shortfall," Consumer Federation of
America Memorandum) While the agency accomplishes an amazing amount of work on a small budget - saving the nation an estimated $13 billion dollars in lives saved and injuries prevented each year (Thomas W. Murr, Jr., Acting Executive Director, "Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Request and Performance Plan," CPSC Memorandum, 10 July 2001.)- its shrinking budget will undoubtedly make oversight of all consumer products, including toys, that much more difficult.

A new factor complicating toy safety is the growing popularity of online toy retailers. The convenience of online toy stores draws increasing numbers of consumers each year: online sales of toys grew 22 percent from $650 million in 1999 to $793 million in 2000. (Toy Industry Fact Book 2001-2002 Edition: Chapter Five - Industry Economics and Marketing, Toy Industry Association, 2001 (citing an NPD Group Study).)Yet these stores pose special difficulties for consumers; PIRG's second annual survey of toy websites found that no online toy retailer consistently uses the mandatory age or choke hazard warning labels
required by law on toy packages sold in stores. (See Appendix 5 for PIRG's 2002 Survey of Online Toy Retailers).

Ineffective Toy Recalls
In 2001, PIRG researchers found a toy identical to toys already recalled by the CPSC. While CPSC has been aggressive over the past years in recalling unsafe toys, very few consumers who purchase recalled products - fewer than 20 percent -- ultimately find out about the recall. Even though CPSC occasionally announces recalls publicly through national television, national toy stores and pediatrician's offices, many consumers still do not find out about recalled toys.

Recalls are made more difficult by the fact that many consumers have difficulty determining whether they actually own the product being recalled. The failure of toy manufacturers to label their products - not just the packaging - with contact information or even the name of the manufacturer makes identifying recalled products difficult if not impossible. Manufacturers, on the other hand, rarely have any way of contacting consumers who have purchased their products. Very few consumers fill out "warranty" cards provided with some products, because the
questions asked are so clearly intended for marketing purposes.

To more effectively communicate recalls to consumers, CPSC should mandate the creation of consumer registration cards that could be used to directly contact consumers about recall and safety actions taken by the CPSC and or the manufacturer of the product. Consumers must be guaranteed that their contact information be used solely for safety purposes and not for marketing. PIRG supports a petition filed by Consumer Federation of America in 2001, which
requests that CPSC require manufacturers to institute the use of consumer registration cards. This petition also requests a regulation to require the name and contact information of the manufacturer, including an address and phone number or phone number and web address, on every product intended for children.