Tests on more than 1,200 children's products, most of them still on store shelves, found that 35 percent contain lead -- many with levels far above the federal recall standard used for lead paint.The Consumer Product Safety Commission has not done a sufficient job in policing the industry to cull those products containing lead from the marketplace.
A Hannah Montana card game case, a Go Diego Go! backpack and Circo brand shoes were among the items with excessive lead levels in the tests performed by a coalition of environmental health groups across the country.
Only 20 percent of the toys and other products had no trace of lead or harmful chemicals, according to the results being released today by the Michigan-based Ecology Center along with the national Center for Health, Environment and Justice and groups in eight other states.
Of the 1,268 items tested, 23 toys were the subjects of recalls of millions of units this year.
Mattel Inc. recalled more than 21 million Chinese-made toys on fears they were tainted with lead paint and tiny magnets that children could accidentally swallow. Mattel's own tests on the toys found that they had lead levels up to 200 times the accepted limit.
Some of the problems stem from Chinese manufacturers who use lead paint in their products, and US importers and toy manufacturers who are not policing their own products to ensure that they are produced with lead free paints.
The muddled picture on safety makes this a more harrowing season for people looking to buy toys for their kids because no one knows for sure whether the toys on the shelves are safe and unleaded.
Of course, if it doesn't have lead, there might be other hazardous materials lurking. Like asbestos.
No comments:
Post a Comment