NYPIRG Calls for Safer Toys, Offers Tips to Help Consumers Shop Safely

The holidays are upon us and dangerous and toxic toys can be found on store shelves right here in New York, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group’s (NYPIRG) annual toy safety report, Treacherous Toys: Dangerous and Toxic Toys on New York’s Store Shelves. 

NYPIRG released the report, which notes the presence of potentially unsafe toys and children’s products found in stores throughout New York in November and December 2013. Field study participants found, in local stores, toys and children’s products that appeared on two different recently released lists of potentially unsafe toys and children’s products in the following toy and child safety reports:

• WORLD AGAINST TOYS CAUSING HARM, INC.'S "10 WORST TOYS" LIST.

• United States Public Interest Research Group’s “Trouble in Toyland"

Treacherous Toys also covers toys which have been recalled in the past year that may still pose a risk to consumers and their families who had previously purchased these items. The report includes the following resource, Consumer Product Safety Commission 2013 Toy Recall List.

NYPIRG’s Treacherous Toys report offers safety guidelines for purchasing toys for young children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards.

This year’s report reveals 14 potentially unsafe types of toys and children’s products that were available in over 35 stores across the state. Seven toys posed a choking hazard, three toys and children’s products tested positive for the toxic substances and two toys posed an impact hazard. Surveyors also identified toys that pose eye and magnetic toy hazards.

“Our report aims to make sure that when toy manufacturers kick into high gear to offer the hottest toys for the holiday shopping season, our children’s safety is not sacrificed,” said NYPIRG Project Coordinator Brian Lupo. “While most toys are safe, our researchers indeed found toys on the shelves that pose choking risks and impact hazards, as well toys and children’s products that contain hazardous levels of the toxic chemicals.” 

Key hazards highlighted in the report and indentified in toys and children’s products on the shelves of stores in New York include: 

NYPIRG found seven toys that posed choking hazards. Choking, on small toy parts, on small balls, on marbles and on balloons, continues to be the major cause of toy-related deaths and injuries. Between 2001 and 2012, more than 90 children died from choking incidents. Under the Child Safety Protection Act (CSPA) and Consumer Product Safety Commission rules, toys intended for children under three are banned if they contain small parts or easily break into pieces that are small parts, and toys intended for children between ages three and six years old that contain small parts, balls, or marbles must include an explicit choke hazard warning.

NYPIRG found three toys and children’s products that contained the toxic substances on New York store shelves. The current federal legal standard limits six kinds of phthalates to 1,000 ppm, and limits the amount of antimony and arsenic, cadmium and other elements that can leach out of toys. Surveyors found toxic chemicals including phthalates, antimony and cadmium. The Ninja Turtles Pencil Case was found to contain 150,000 ppm of one of six phthalates banned from toys, as well as excessive levels (600 ppm) of the toxic metal cadmium.

NYPIRG found two toys that pose impact hazards. Pointed, rigid plastic tips and play “blades” pose the potential for penetrating impact and puncture wound injuries.  

NYPIRG found one potentially unsafe magnetic toy, which was also a choking hazard. When the small ellipsoid toy magnets are struck together, they vibrate and produce a singing sound, making them appealing to children. CPSC has reported gastroenterological injuries associated with ellipsoid magnets.  

“Parents and others giving toys and children’s products this holiday season—and beyond— need to remember that while this report includes a number of potentially dangerous toys currently in New York stores, NYPIRG and the CPSC do not, of course, have the resources to inspect all toys on the shelves,” Lupo said. “Treacherous Toys explains the most common toy hazards.”

The full report is available on NYPIRG’s website.