It’s less than a month before Christmas and only a day before Hanukkah starts, so parents are going to be trying to figure out the best toys to get their children. To help with the decision, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group has released its annual ‘Trouble in Toyland’ report, which lists toys that could be dangerous to some children.
The toys listed could cause choking, chemical, magnetism or noise hazards. They can be bought at stores like Toys ‘R’ Us and the Dollar Tree and no major franchise is safe. Toys features Marvel and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters are on the list, as are Hasbro’s Littlest Pet Shop. Despite these issues, none of the toys have been recalled.
“These are not theoretical risks,” said Dr. Elizabeth Powell during a press conference with PIRG, reports The Chicago Tribune. “They are actual risks.”
One of the key toys that the group is really concerned about is a Captain America shield released by Disguise, Inc. According to NJ.com, the group found that it contains 2,900 parts per million of lead in the vinyl material used to make it. That’s far above the 90 ppm set by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, PIRG said.
Another item they criticized was a TMNT pencil case made with 150,000 ppm DEHP, according to their testing. DEHP is a substance that makes it flexible and the limit is supposed to be 1,000 ppm for toys.
“What they’re not telling you is that in order for it to be on that shelf, it already had to be tested and certified,” Joan Lawrence, vice president of safety standards for the Toy Industry Association, told the Tribune. She was critical of the report, noting that what consumers “need to know is that when they go into a store, all toys sold in the U.S. already have had to demonstrate compliance with (federal) toy safety standards.”
You can read the full report here.
image: Amazon