|
This X-ray analyzer tests toys for lead and other toxic compounds at a testing station in San Francisco.
This Thomas the Tank Engine train toy was removed from a thrift store because of lead and other safety concerns.
A Barbie toy will be checked |
BY CATHY JETT
Parents can breathe a little easier about toy safety as this holiday shopping season approaches.
Toy companies and retailers have stepped up inspections of imports after last year's rash of recalls for toys coated in lead paint and children's jewelry containing high levels of the potentially toxic metal.
"Toy companies have taken toy testing very seriously," said Gareb Shamus of Toy Wishes magazine. "Not only do these companies make toys, but they have children as well. They don't want to put children in harm's way."
Toy companies are either doing the testing themselves or hiring third-party testing companies, he said. Toys "R" Us, for example, is requiring extensive testing by manufacturers before it ships toys to its stores, and has hired Bureau Veritas to retest products on store shelves.
"We have alerted our manufacturers that we will report any safety violations we may find to the proper authorities," Chairman and CEO Gerald L. Storch said in a prepared statement on
LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION
Consumers will find even more protection measures in place beginning next year when the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect. It bans lead beyond minute levels in products for children ages 12 and under as well as children's goods containing six types of phthalates.
"This is the first time we've actually regulated a product for lead," said or Nancy Van Voorhis, director of the state's Lead-Safe Virginia program. "It's going to be mandatory testing and certification for children's products, and they're going to require to put a lot number on the toy itself so it's easier to track if there's a problem."
Lead was the major factor in the recall of 4.5 million toys last year as well as inexpensive children's jewelry such as the "Best Friends Forever" necklaces sold at Claire's Stores Inc., according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Most came from China, where it's not uncommon for manufacturers to use lead from old computers and batteries sent there for recycling by such developed countries as the United States.
Virginia had two reported cases of children ages 6 and under with high levels of lead due to toys last year. One involved an unspecified Dora the Explorer item and the other a Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railway stop sign, according to the Lead-Safe Virginia report. Neither case was in the Fredericksburg area.
"One child was mouthing the toy a lot, but once it was taken away, the lead levels went down," Van Voorhis said. "Those cases very rarely have a long-term effect."
The major cause of lead poisoning in children remains dust from the lead-based paints that were in use before being banned in 1978, and soil contaminated by exhaust from vehicles using leaded gasoline.
"Leaded gasoline was phased out in 1986, but it's not biodegradable and remains a hazard around roadways," Van Voorhis said.
Children ages 6 and under are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning because their brains are still developing, and even low levels can interfere with normal brain development. It's also the time when young children spend a lot of time crawling on the floor and putting things in their mouths.
Congress banned the use of lead paint on toys in 1978, and the ban was widely respected until toy manufacturing began to be done in other countries. Not all countries ban lead paint.
"There is the likelihood that as product manufacturing went global and moved to other countries, somewhere in the supply chain the system failed," said Julie Vallese, spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The problem intensified in the last federal fiscal year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30), when the number of recalls for toys containing lead jumped to 22. There had been just two such recalls in the 2006 fiscal year.
"Once it was found that lead paint had found its way back into the marketplace, both the Consumer Product Safety Commission and manufacturers made it a priority to remove any products that came in violation of the ban," Vallese said.
The newly passed legislation gives the CSPC additional funding to beef up its efforts; spells out acceptable lead level limits, which are reduced each year for three years; requires third-party testing; makes it illegal to sell a recalled product; and stiffens fines if a company fails to report a possible product hazard to the agency.
"[The potential hazard] doesn't need to be confirmed," Vallese said. "They should have been doing that all along."
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com
