If you’re worried about toy safety – that’s good – you should be concerned. Thus far, toy safety has been widely overlooked in the United States. Hopefully though, in 2012, this will change. On December 15th of last year, ASTM-International sent a revised toy safety specification document to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in hopes that new safer toy standards will be adopted in 2012. The new toy safety revisions mainly concern toys that may contain heavy metals and how to measure those quantities for child safety. Other issues covered include the stability of ride-on toys; jaw entrapment; toys with spherical ends; requirements for squeeze toys attached to rings; use of cords, straps and elastics; packaging film; and yo-yo tether balls.
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Leonard Morrissey, director of technical committee operations for ASTM-International tells Consumer Reports, “The heavy metals testing has been made more robust.” Morrissey also noted that revisions about strangulation hazards would be more consistent and that even more safety revisions are expected later on in 2012. Obviously, in a perfect world, what we’d like to see toy standards cover are green and healthy issues as well, such as recycling aspects, zero chemicals, greener materials and toys that encourage active, outdoor play. Still, small toy safety steps are better than no steps at all. With the new revised standards, perhaps we’ll see fewer toy recalls and we, as parents, won’t have to worry so much about what our kids are playing with. If the revisions are approved, they should kick in within 180 days from the December 15th submission date.
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I am extremely disappointed in some of the language that is used in this article. Especially, that “toy safety has been widely overlooked in the United States.” I find it hard to believe that the author, who is billed as a business expert, does not know anything about the CSPIA that passed in 2007. CPSIA is the most stringent set of regulations regarding children’s products of almost any other country in the world. In fact, the standards are so stringent that they have been quite onerous on small, independent (read: more eco-friendly) toy manufacturers. Jennifer, please do your readers a favor and education yourself about these regulations, before you make statements like this. You can find a lot of information online about the requirements of the law as well as information about it’s pitfalls:
http://www.thesmartmama.com/category/cpsia/
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/
I’m well aware of the issue concerning handmade toys and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). In fact, we wrote about it here back in 2008. http://www.inhabitots.com/help-save-handmade-toys-in-the-usa-sign-the-online-petition/.
I find it hard to believe that parents would believe that toy safety has not been overlooked. Especially when HealthyStuff lists pages of toxic toys and toy-related injuries increased significantly from 2005 to 2009, even with the 2007 documents. In 2010, CPSC recalled almost 200,000 toys for violations of lead standards plus another 3.5 million toys or so for choking hazards. SafeKids reports that In 2009, an estimated 185,900 children ages 14 and under were treated in an emergency department for a
toy-related injury. How any of this equals great toy safety standards, I’m really not sure.
I’m on board with safe handmade toys. Back in 2008, I signed the online petition to Save Handmade Toys in the USA from the CPSIA. However, these toys are not the majority of toys our kids come into contact with. The sales market for green and handmade toys is significantly smaller than conventional toys. Last I heard, there was some statistic such as just 1% of all toy sales are green. The toys we need to worry about are the conventional toys that the new standards will hopefully shape up. It sucks that handmade gets caught up in the middle, but toy standards, in my opinion are abysmal here in the U.S. We could do way better in the first place and thus avoid recalls and accidents involving toys.
If you are aware of CPSIA, then why wouldn’t your article state something to the effect of, “Despite sweeping toy safety legislation being passed in the U.S. in 2007…” and then follow up with your alarmist concerns? Regarding recalls, of course we have more recalls now. The CPSC was given more power to make recalls and we also have more stringent standards, so more recalls would be the natural result.
Yes, you reference SafeKids statistics, so I’m sure you’re also aware that many (if not the majority) of the injuries you report from 2009 are the result of scooters, balloons, and balls. We must work hard to outlaw these toys, for the sake of children everywhere!!
If we had a more free market approach and small, independent toy makers were allowed to thrive in this country, perhaps the percentage of natural children’s products would go up. Something to think about.