The toy recalls are still big news and something (the autumnal equinox, perhaps?) triggered an avalanche of “Oh, no! What should parents do?” advice stories from the media. Most, if not all, mentioned recalls.org,but you can also subscribe to Consumerist’s “recalls” feed.
toys
Should You Test Your Children's Toys For Lead? No.
By 9.30.07
The Times is reporting that some overzealous parents are manually testing their children’s toys for lead. Take Andrew Jones, a well meaning but admittedly paranoid father to a 3-year-old:
Like many parents, Mr. Jones said he was suspicious of all of his daughter’s toys now that millions of items for children have been recalled for high levels of lead.
By 9.27.07
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Kolcraft’s “Sesame Beginnings” Travel Play Yard (strangulation).
Consumer Group Finds Lead In More Children's Toys
By 9.27.07
Extremely high levels of lead were found in a Go Diego Go backpack, a Superfly monkey and a pair of Circo Lulu boots, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (a group dedicated to ridding the world of PVC) reported in a new study released yesterday. In all, 11 items they tested contained lead levels and/or heavy metals well over the safety standard, 10 of which contained PVC, or vinyl. The backpack had levels of 4,600 parts per million. The CPSC standard is 600 parts per million.
By 9.26.07
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More Thomas & Friends™ Wooden Railway Toys (lead), Happy Giddy Gardening Tools and Children’s Sunny Patch Chairs sold at Target (lead), Britain’s “Knights of the Sword” Series Toys (lead), Jo-Ann Stores Children’s Toy Rake (lead), Guidecraft Floor Puppet Theaters (lead), : Rhode Island Novelty Children’s Spinning Wheel-Metal Necklaces (lead), More TOBY N.Y.C. Children’s Metal Jewelry (lead), Quesos Sabrosos Mexicanos Queso Cincho de Guerrero (salmonella).
The Unpleasant Truth Behind Mattel's Unexpected Apology
By 9.23.07
Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys. It is important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of these products that we recalled were the result of a flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers.
By 9.21.07
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In a gesture to assuage China’s injured pride in advance of an on-site visit by the CEO, Mattel apologized to China for the “design flaws” responsible for most of this summer’s toy recalls. [AP]
Liveblogging The House Energy And Commerce Subcommittee Hearing On Toy Safety
By 9.19.07
Parading before you today will be two familiar panels: The first will feature acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Nancy Nord and Commissioner Thomas Moore, who skipped out of last week’s hearing for a dentists appointment. The second will be devoted solely to Mattel CEO Robert Eckert.
Hey, Why Aren't Your Toys Made In China?
By 9.18.07
The New York Times took a look at some European toy makers who decided to let the Chinese Poison Train pass them by. Why didn’t they outsource their manufacturing to China?
EU May Ban Chinese Toys After October
By 9.17.07
China’s toy imports make up more than half the toy market in the EU, and apparently their lax safety record hasn’t escaped the grim, existential gaze of Europe. Meglena Kuneva, an EU commissioner, put it quite bluntly in front of the EU’s internal market and consumer protection committee last week: “This is the last warning. If there’s an unsatisfactory report in October we will [impose] the next layer of measures. Among them is a ban on products,” which the Associated Press reports could include toys.
Toy Prices To Rise 10%
By 9.15.07
Toys will be 10% more expensive next year thanks the toy industry’s latest attempts to protect American children from defective merchandise. Toy makers will use the hike to offset the cost of retaining independent labs to both test for defective and dangerous toys, and provide a measure of PR security.
Consumers could also see higher prices on other Chinese imports such as fish and children’s apparel, but the big price gains in toys could be more jolting.
Design Flaws In Toys Cause Far More Injuries Than Lead
By 9.12.07
Lead isn’t what you need to watch out for with American toys—it’s design flaws and the policies of irresponsible toy companies, says E. Marla Felcher on Slate. One study “recently found that of all the toys recalled since 1988, 76 percent involved design flaws. Kids choked, were strangled, and were burned by toy makers’ design mistakes.”
The reason so many toys were recalled this summer is not that there weren’t enough regulations. It’s that toy makers were ignoring the regulations that are already on the books. And the new testing proposal won’t stop them from continuing to do so.
Liveblogging The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing On Toy Safety
By 9.12.07
Today is a big day for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Starting at 11am, the Chairman of the powerful Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will kick off a series of hearings examining the toy industry’s seemingly magnetic attraction to lead paint. Durbin, whose Subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s budget, will grill toy industry representatives, consumer advocates, and members of the government over plans to protect America’s children from the dangers silently lurking on toy shelves by establishing an independent testing regime.
Disney, Toys 'R Us To Begin Random Testing Of Toys
By 9.10.07
Disney is a name a lot of parents trust, so it came as a surprise to many that toys and jewelry featuring Disney characters would be recalled for lead contamination. The jewelry seen here, for example, was recalled for lead contamination after being sold at mall outlets like The Limited, Too.
Critics Say Consumer Agency Needs Complete Overhaul
By 9.6.07
The CPSC is understaffed and underfunded, and it needs a complete overhaul of its mission if it’s to be effective at all in protecting US consumers, says Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D):
“The laws are written sadly in a way to make it next to impossible to protect consumers. 401 (CPSC) employees today trying to manage trillions of dollars in products … they do not have enough cops on the beat.”
By 9.5.07
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Accessory Toys (lead), Fisher Price Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys (lead), Fisher-Price Recalls Geo Trax Locomotive Toys (lead), NettoCollection “Moderne” and “Loft” Cribs (entrapment, strangulation), d-Scan Jubee Bunk Beds (collapse). Mattel’s CEO appeared in a new apology video, featuring shots of people in lab coats going through the motions of testing toys (we like how the guy in the beginning nods his head as he writes down a figure, nice lil piece of overacting there).
More Mattel Lead Painted Toy Recalls Tomorrow
By 9.4.07
Toy-giant Mattel will recall yet more toys covered in deadly lead-tainted paint, the AP reports.
