Dangerous toys lurking on store shelves
The Dollar Tree is breaking no laws by carrying the toy since the law limiting the chemicals amount will not go into effect until February.
Lead was found in 20 percent of toys, compared with 35 percent last year.
They look harmless. Thats why the New York Public Interest Research Group is calling for better enforcement of consumer product safety laws, an overhaul of U.
But despite those high-profile recalls, stores continue to stock toys harmful to children, according to two reports released Wednesday.
Parents were shocked last year when 45 million toys were recalled for containing unsafe levels of lead.
Among many other toys, the reports warn against Littlest Pet Shop Sportiest play pack, which it said improperly warned of choking hazards, the WALL-E Leapster2, which it said had high concentrations of lead and arsenic and the Disney Fairies Foldout Chair & Sleeping Pad, which it said tested high for bromine and mercury.
Its a toy the report said contains 95 times the safe level of pthalates plasticizing chemical compounds found to cause developmental disabilities in children.
Consumer protection group Consumers Union said product recalls were up 19 percent in 2008, with two-thirds comprised of childrens items such as toys and clothing.
Reports released by NYPIRG in conjunction with other consumer agencies including nonprofit environmental group the Ecology Center, outlined chemical and choking dangers in popular childrens toys available throughout Western New York.
analyst Sean McGowan, who watches the toy industry for the investment bank, said he was skeptical of the analysis and said the portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer used in the healthy toys report is notorious for false positives. I am extremely leery of the test results without knowing how diligent the testing is, he said.
The HealthyToys.org consumer guide to toxic chemicals tested 1,500 toys, finding medium to high levels of cadmium, arsenic, lead, PVC or other harmful chemicals in a third of them.
Were quite comfortable with the usefulness of it to screen toys and other consumer products. The Toy Industry Association, a non-profit trade group, released a statement calling the reports misleading at best. It said the toy industry is highly regulated and has become even more so in the past year and a half.
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