Consumer Revolt Against Lead In Toys

(CBS)  When she was one, Britt Nordquist tested positive for high levels of lead. Her exposure came from a recalled "Thomas the Train" toy which she had repeatedly put into her mouth. Her mother, DJ, was worried that her speech was delayed:

"She does not have the number of words that she should have at this age," DJ said. "She should have about 6 to 8 and she really doesn't."

Center for Environmental Health
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Division

Two years later, Britt's lead levels are down and her speech is normal. But her mother's fears about lead toys still persist.

"I am going to do what I can as a consumer and a mother to make sure these products are not in my home."

Making her job a little easier is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which just this year lowered lead levels in products made for children under 12 and forced toy makers to do independent lead testing or face stiff penalties.

Toy importer Charlie Woo of "Mega Toys" notes: "The 2007 big toy recall was really a wake up call for the entire toy industry."

In 2007, over 26 million toys were recalled for lead and other dangers - sending parents into a panic. In 2008, there were 85 lead recalls, with 15 this year.

Woo tests his toys twice before they reach American shores. But he says some Chinese manufacturers still want to cut corners.

In years past, just getting Chinese toys to the U.S. almost guarenteed shelf space. Not anymore. The Consumer Product Safety Commission just this year stationed inspectors full time at 10 major U.S ports to check for lead in toys.

Advocates at the Center For Environmental Health are responsible for much of the progress. The small organization started doing random toy testing and suing toy makers to expose dangerous lead levels in 2007.

"We had many motivations to do this work," said Michael Green, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Health. "One was to protect the children that play with these toys another was to protect the workers who were manufacturing the toys."

DJ Nordquist isn't convinced yet.

"If it's made in China I won't buy it," she says.

But with 80 percent of all toys now imported from there, avoiding "Made in China" is almost impossible.

[momandteacher]

I am glad CBS puts stuff like that on TV...because there are still lots of ignorant people. If you have children and if you are a concious parent - you have to do your own research: for everything.
Food, strollers, diapers,clothing...and yes, toys. There are a lot of amazing manufacturers out there with fantastic educational toys...well, you might have to look towards Europe. They have had much stricter rules for lead, safety,....for years. Did you know, that even if a european company has it's toys made overseas (like China) they won't use lead at all. China CAN do it - if you make them :-)

Many manufacturers could not care less about your childs health - it is still all about the money anyways.
So stand up for your childs rights to grow up healthy and happy...who cares about the bla-bla talkers.

[newsterl]

Yawn, another scare tactic, gezus, back in the 50's and before, lead paint was used on everything- including kids furniture if painted, toys- especially those metal train sets and other toys that were painted.
Water pipes if copper were soldered with LEAD solder or were lead pipes sometimes.
Big gas guzzling cars ran on leaded gas too and people turned out just fine, now suddenly the hysteria is all but telling us the kid is going to die of lead poisoning just LOOKING at lead paint!
So either this is BS hyped up- because lead is FAR less of an exposure today, or else we got kids who were bred out of such inferior parents that they are born weaklings, with lousy immune systems and genetic flaws big time.

The amount of lead in toys etc today is MINUTE compared to the 1950's

[erasmus111]

"...or else we got kids who were bred out of such inferior parents that they are born weaklings, with lousy immune systems and genetic flaws big time."


Maybe it's that you've got kids that are spit out by lead-based PARENTS.


"The amount of lead in toys etc today is MINUTE compared to the 1950's"

It doesn't really take much lead. And it builds up in the body. For children it is deadly.

[Overruled1]

The whole reason why we have the protections today was because of the very same contamination you are arguing was more than we find today.
If those rules didn't exist today, we'd be a bunch of blithering morons with bad immune systems, and genetic flaws.
This is not a scare tactic. People have been poisoned by foreign products, I'd nail any country for it, today it happens that China is the source of many health issues.

[erasmus111]

The United States still uses lead in stuff, also.

My daughters used to work for a woman that did ceramics (in Canada). And she used to cross the border into the U.S. to get her glazes. They were brighter colors because of the lead in it.

[erasmus111]

Don't even think for one moment that everyone is testing for lead in ALL the toys, because they AREN'T. They will come across one and then they will pull it from the shelves and get after the company. But there are still a million more out there. And there always will be.

Everytime one is pulled from the shelves, there are probably ten more different toys with lead, to replace it.

I can't count how many times children's jewelry has been found with lead in it. And all those packages of beads that they can make their own necklaces with, I bet you a million bucks there is lead in them.

[SharonMcEachern]

You've left something really big out of this story,CBS News and Ms. Hughes. You make no mention of Mattel, the largest toy manufacturer in the world and its subsidiary Fisher-Price. Two years ago the massive 2 million toy recall of lead-painted toys was due to Mattel toys. Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act because of Mattel. As you reported, this new legislation "forces toy makers to do independent lead-testing or force stiff penalties."

This is wrong and inaccurate reporting. In fact, somehow Mattel got the federal regulators to SECRETLY EXEMPT Mattel from the third-party, independent testing of its toys. So, the worst offender and the largest supplier of toys -- who gets the majority of its toys produced in China -doesn't have to have impartial, independent testing of its toys; but rather, Mattel just tests its own toys. Oh brother! Talk about the fox guarding the hen house.

CBS and Ms. Hughes, why didn't you know and report on this? Ethic Soup blog has an excellent post, "Mattel Secretly Exempt From Safety Law Toy Testing" at:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/2009/09/mattel-secretly-exempt-from-safety-law-toy-testing.html

[speedbump2001]

Despite the "sensationalist" headline, there was nothing secret about this. You should write your congressman or senator. The allowance for this was written into the CPSIA law. If our lawmakers didn't want this option, they would have not allowed this in the law. That's the story...