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No one wants to buy an unsafe toy for a child. While toy safety has improved in the last year, it’s still possible to find toys with a high content of lead and other toxic metals.
The Washington Toxics Coalition offers these tips for selecting safe toys:
- For the safest toys avoid vinyl, often used to make dolls, action figures, and bath toys, because it may contain lead and phthalates. Higher levels of lead and other heavy metals have also been found in toy jewelry, cars, and trucks with metal parts and painted wooden toys. Current federal regulations restrict overall lead content and have reduced the amount allowed in surface coatings such as paint.
- Check out the independently tested toys at HealthyStuff.org.
- Order from companies that emphasize healthy toys such as Rosie Hippo and Planet Happy Kids.
In addition, keep up on toy recalls. See www.cpsc.gov.
If you’ve got kids at home, chances are you’ve got a lot of toys. And if you are like most parents, you probably have a whole pile (or two) at home that your kids doen’t even look at anymore.