Shoppers get resource to check toy safety

Parents want toys to stimulate mental development -- not put it at risk thanks to the presence of toxic chemicals.

But federal rules and agencies do little to restrict or monitor for the presence of lead, cadmium and plasticizing chemicals.

To help shoppers worried about toy safety, a coalition of environmental groups Wednesday are releasing a database of more than 1,200 toys and other children's products that were tested for the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals.

A state lawmaker also is working on new rules that would outright ban some of the worst ingredients in toys, shampoos and lotions, car seats and other products.

"Children are particularly vulnerable to toxics because their brains and bodies are developing. We decided it was imperative that we give parents a way to make sure the products that they buy for their children are safe," said Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, and sponsor of the legislation.

"It would be preferable to have federal regulations," she said. "But we're not going to get that any time soon, and in the meantime, our children are being affected and we're not going to wait any longer."

In the past year, millions of toys were recalled over safety concerns -- many because they contained levels of lead in their paint exceeding federal limits. There are no limits for other chemicals that could pose harm, or for lead that's incorporated into a product, such as lead that's added to vinyl as a stabilizer.

The study by environmentalists, which was coordinated by the Michigan-based Ecology Center, found that more than one third of toys tested contained lead, and 17 percent had lead levels above the legal limit of 600 parts per million. Other chemicals tested for were the metal cadmium, chlorine, arsenic and mercury.

"It's not our intention to alarm parents, but when parents have this kind of information, they can make sure they're minimizing their children's exposure," said Ivy Sager-Rosenthal of the Washington Toxics Coalition, one of the groups involved with the study.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said he hasn't seen the Ecology Center's tests and that the federal agency would seek to verify its findings and initiate recalls if warranted.

He said the commission has been meeting with ASTM International, which spearheads voluntary safety standards for toys, to discuss crafting standards specific to lead in plastics. Wolfson said the commission launched 40 toy recalls in fiscal year 2006, three over lead-paint violations. In 2007, there were 61 recalls, 19 involving lead-paint violations.

"What we would like consumers to know is more recalls are on the way," he said.

Joan Lawrence, the Toy Industry Association's vice president of standards and safety, said the group supports limiting accessible lead in children's products. She said she hasn't seen all of the Ecology Center's findings but called them misleading because the testers did not appear to follow recognized test procedures.

"The mere presence of any substance alone is only half of the answer -- you need to know if it's accessible to the child," Lawrence said. "We can't tell that from what I know of the tests that have been done by this group."

Sager-Rosenthal disagreed. "There is no safe level with lead. It should not be in a toy."

Lead has been linked to seizures, blood poisoning, lower IQs and death. But a toxicologist at Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center recently cautioned that she had never treated a child for lead poisoning caused only by a toy.

Legislation coming in January from Dickerson would ban the use of lead, cadmium and plasticizing chemicals called phthalates in toys and products such as lotions, soap and cosmetics marketed to children. It would provide information on product ingredients, perhaps as a database or product labels. It would also support the development of safer, alternative ingredients.

CHILDREN AND LEAD: WHICH TOYS ARE SAFE?

Toys with high lead content:

Tatiti Brush Your Teeth! Robot

Elmo's Take-Along Card Games

Nick Jr. Go Diego Go! backpack

My Pasture Play Set

Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game case, left

Toys with no lead content:

First Years First Keys, left

Fisher-Price Amazing Animals Hippo

B.R. Bruin Stacking Cups

Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack

First Play Caterpillar Grasping Toy

See how toys scored in the toxicity analysis by a coalition of environmental groups: healthytoys.org.

Find a list of recalled toys from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: cpsc.gov.