Trouble in Toyland The 29th Annual Survey of Toy Safety TROUBLE IN TOYLAND The 29th Annual Survey of Toy Safety Written by: Elizabeth Ridlington and Tom Van Heeke, Frontier Group Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Education Fund November 2014 Acknowledgments U.S. PIRG Education Fund thanks Rachel Weintraub, Legislative Director and Senior Counsel, Consumer Federation of America, and Nancy Cowles, Executive Director, Kids in Danger, for their review of drafts of this document, as well as their insights and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Dutzik and Gideon Weissman of Frontier Group for editorial support. Special thanks to the Colston Warne program of Consumer Reports for supporting our work on consumer protection issues. Additional thanks to the Bauman Family Founda- tion and individual contributors for their generous support of our work on public health and toxics issues. The authors bear responsibility for any factual errors. Policy recommendations are those of U.S. PIRG Education Fund. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders or those who provided review. 2014 U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Some Rights Reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported License. To view the terms of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0. With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursu- ing their own narrow agendas, U.S. PIRG Education Fund offers an independent voice that works on behalf of the public interest. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) or- ganization, works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer meaningful opportunities for civic participation. For more information about U.S. PIRG Education Fund or for additional copies of this report, please visit www.uspirgedfund.org. 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Cover: shutterstock.com/Darren Brode Layout: To the Point Publications, www.tothepointpublications.com Table of Contents Executive Summary............................................... 4 Introduction . 7 Hazards in Toys .................................................. 8 Toxic Metals .......................................................... 8 Lead . 8 Chromium ......................................................... 9 Phthalates........................................................... 10 Choking Hazards...................................................... 11 Small Parts . 11 Small Balls........................................................ 13 Balloons ......................................................... 14 Magnets . 15 Batteries . 16 Excessive Noise....................................................... 17 Policy Recommendations ......................................... 19 Methodology................................................... 21 Appendix 1. Summary of Toy Hazards and Examples of Potentially Dangerous Toys................................................. 22 Potentially Toxic Toys................................................... 22 Potential Choking Hazards . 26 Magnetic Toys ........................................................ 35 Potential Battery Hazards in Toys ......................................... 37 Appendix 2. Reported Toy-Related Deaths, 2001-2012 ................... 38 Appendix 3. CPSC Characteristics of Toys for Children under Three .........39 Notes . 40 Executive Summary or almost 30 years, U.S. PIRG Standards for toy safety are enforced Education Fund has conducted an by the Consumer Product Safety Com- Fannual survey of toy safety, which mission (CPSC). Safety standards include has led to an estimated 150 recalls and limits on toxics in children’s products, size other regulatory actions over the years, requirements for toys for small children, and has helped educate the public and warning labels about choking hazards, policymakers on the need for continued measures to keep magnets and batteries action to protect the health and wellbeing inaccessible, and noise limits. of children. Among the toys surveyed this year, U.S. PIRG Education Fund staff we found numerous choking hazards and examined hundreds of toys to con- five toys with concentrations of toxics firm that they are safe. We discov- exceeding federal standards. In addition ered that unsafe toys remain widely to reporting on potentially hazardous available. The problems we found products found in stores in 2014, this include: installment of the report describes the potential hazards in toys and children’s • Lead. Childhood exposure to even products. low levels of lead can undermine The continued presence of these development, damaging academic hazards in toys highlights the need for achievement and attentiveness. We constant vigilance on the part of govern- found unsafe levels of lead in one ment agencies and the public to ensure set of play sheriff and police badges. that children do not end up playing with (More details and photos of all unsafe unsafe toys. toys can be found in Appendix A.) 4 Trouble in Toyland 2014 • Chromium. Skin contact with Balloons are responsible for more chromium can cause severe allergic choking deaths among children than reactions including skin redness, any other toy or children’s product. swelling and ulcers. Chromium As in past years, we continue to find compounds are also known to cause balloons on store shelves marketed to cancer. This year, lab tests revealed children under eight. that a tambourine marketed to • Magnets. When two or more children ages two and older contained powerful magnets are swallowed, chromium at nearly 10 times the legal they can have fatal health conse- limit. quences as their attractive forces • Phthalates. Exposure to phthal- draw them together inside the body, ates at crucial stages of development perforating intestinal walls. Our may harm development of the male shoppers purchased small, high- reproductive system and is linked to powered magnets, despite their being early puberty. Lab tests confirmed recalled by the CPSC. that several items purchased by our • Batteries. When batteries are shoppers contained high levels of ingested, chemical reactions can banned phthalates. Those items burn through the esophagus and include a rubber duck, plastic-covered blood vessels, causing fatal internal hairclips, and a Dora the Explorer bleeding. Our shoppers purchased a backpack. toy whale that contains batteries that • Small parts are pieces that might are accessible to small children and block a child’s airway. Children, are nearly small enough to consti- especially those under age three, can tute a choke hazard. The toy has choke on small parts. Our shoppers been recalled in Australia because purchased a set of foam blocks small children can easily remove the marketed to children two and up that batteries. contained multiple small parts that • Excessive noise. Excessive noise fit into a choke test cylinder. We also exposure can lead to hearing loss. identified multiple toys containing This is especially problematic for near-small parts, which are pieces young children: Hearing loss at that almost fit into the choke tube an early age has ramifications for and can be a choking hazard. speech development. This year, our • Small balls less than 1.75 inches in shoppers found toys that are loud, diameter represent a choke hazard for though not necessarily in violation of children three years old and younger. federal limits. We found small balls that were not labeled with the appropriate choke Despite recent progress in making toys hazard warning. We also remain safer, the findings of our 2014 investiga- concerned about other small, rounded tion, as well as recent recalls and legal toys, such as toy food, that present actions against importers, highlight the the same choke hazard as small balls need for continued attention to short- but are not labeled as a hazard. comings in existing standards and vigi- • Balloons are easily inhaled in lance on the part of the shopping public. attempts to inflate them and can To keep children safe from potentially become stuck in children’s throats. hazardous toys, there is still more to do. Executive Summary 5 Policymakers should continue Parents can also take steps to pro- building upon recent progress in the tect children from potential hazards. strengthening of toy safety stan- We recommend that parents: dards. The CPSC should: • Shop with U.S. PIRG Education • Continue to vigorously enforce the Fund’s Toy Safety Tips, available at Consumer Product Safety Improve- toysafetytips.org. ment Act’s mandatory standards for • Examine toys carefully for hazards toys, including strict limits on lead before purchase – and don’t trust that and lead paint in any toys, jewelry or they are safe just because they are on other articles for children under 12 a store shelf. years; • Report unsafe toys or toy-related • Vigorously enforce the Consumer