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Consumer Group Reports on Toxic Toys November 24, 2011 | WMFE - In recent years, the United States has done much to improve the safety of children's toys. But one consumer group is still finding trouble in toyland.
Consumer advocates say a battery-powered Hot Wheels racer is too loud. It registers 93 decibels, almost twice the “safe sound threshold” of 85 decibels. There are also commonly available toys that contain dangerous substances like lead and plasticizers called “phthalades.” Brad Ashwell, consumer advocate with the Florida Public Interest Research Group showed off some of those toxic toys this week. Ashwell says one of the ways consumers can determine which toys may be dangerous is to visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s newly-expanded web site. “A kind of landmarking with ‘safer-products-dot-gov’ is that they have potential harms and that’s what the big fight's over," says Ashwell. “A lot of people in the industry didn’t want potential harms, understandably from their perspective.” Ashwell says the only other thing concerned parents can do is to carefully examine every toy for possible hazards before they buy. |
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