Lead in Our Toys
Lead in toys has been a big issue in the last year, and rightfully so. Lead is extremely toxic to humans, especially children.
We’ve seen recalls and some small steps taken by companies to help reduce lead in their toys. But, not nearly enough has been done. The Bush administration has been complicit and has done practically nothing to beef up inspections, increase penalties, or lower the allowed “safe” levels of lead in our children’s toys. Companies have invested money in more of their own inspection personnel, but they have not committed to anything beyond meeting the “safe” standards the government has set. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been reduced to a near sham operation, with budget and staff cuts over the years. China says it has cracked down on the use of leaded paints at factories that produce these toys because the bad press isn’t good for China - duh!
Ultimately, the responsibility lies with TOY COMPANIES. Mattel and Hasbro and Playskool and Fisher Price and all the others. These companies care only about making money, not the welfare of your child. They repeatedly state that they meet the minimum standards for “safe” levels of lead and cadmium. Great, thanks a lot, it’s obvious you really care! Why not do something great for kids and make all of your products 100% free of lead!? It can done; other toy companies like Melissa and Doug do it. Why do these companies not do it? It would cost more money, both in materials and in enforcement at factories, etc. It probably wouldn’t cost that much more, though. Think of what a marketing boon it would be if Mattel pledged tomorrow that by 2009 every toy they manufactured would be lead free! Parents would take notice, believe me! I know I have not bought, and will not buy from these companies until they start making lead-free products.
I was really happy to see the other day that Toys R Us is taking a stand. They aren’t completely eliminating lead from products they sell, but they are setting some tougher standards than the government. Let’s hope they enforce those and really force toy manufacturers to comply or not be stocked in their stores. It’s time for Wal-Mart and Target and KMart to take that same stand and help improve the safety of toys in the US. Write your state elected officials and ask them to pass stricter standards for toys sold in your state. Illinois and California have done so, so products sold in those states must meet stricter standards for lead content than toys sold in other states.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Jonathan, I’m sure you of all people are well aware of this already but apparently it’s not just lead in the toys. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/flipflop.asp
This made me so frightened. I’m always buying little cheap cute things that I know I’ll just use a couple times, like flip flops, or a plastic watch or something along those lines. These images have me thinking twice. Yesterday I bought Mia two toys from Big Lots, a Disney Princess camera and a Disney Princess digital music player made by Creative Designs. I even looked on the back of the package and saw a comment stating “This product conforms to the safety requirements of ASTM:F963″. I went home and looked up the standard http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/DATABASE.CART/REDLINE_PAGES/F963.htm?E+mystore
I just had to chuckle. I could still be giving my child a toy with lead in it just as you said in your post. It’s not funny at all, but what is chuckle worthy to me was that the comment on the package was supposed to somehow make me think everything must be a-okay. When I got home I tried to find info on the two toys I’d purchased but couldn’t find anything other than a couple re-calls on other toys the company has produced.
It’s awful that as parents we have to go through all this just to give our kids some toys. And worse, that our children can be harmed completely unnecessarily!