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Executive Summary

Among the findings of the 2008 Toy Reports:

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.  NYPIRG 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.

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.  NYPIRG found toys that contained concentrations of phthalates up to 40%.

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. NYPIRG found toys with small parts for children under six without the required explicit choke hazard warning.

Bromine, Cadmium, Arsenic and Mercury in Children’s Toys.  HealthyToys.org selected these elements and related or associated chemical compounds because they have been identified by many regulatory agencies as problematic chemicals or they are associated with problematic compounds and because of their toxicity or suspected toxicity, persistence, and/or their tendency to build up in people and the environment. These chemicals have also been linked in animal and sometimes human studies to long-term health impacts such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer. They were also chosen because these chemicals, or their elemental building blocks, have been subject to either regulatory restrictions or voluntary limits set by industry associations or third party environmental certification organizations. On February 10, 2009 the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will adopt the ASTM F973-07 levels for antimony, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium as a mandatory standard. Each of these chemicals also represents potential exposure to workers during the manufacture of products containing them.  Disturbingly, NYPIRG recently identified toys on the shelves of New York stores containing these toxic chemicals.
 
NYPIRG 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.