Toy Recalls - Hype or Health Hazard?
The recent toy recalls are getting a lot of press lately. You would almost think that this is the first time lead has been found in toys or the first time we were warned about magnets...Actually, there have been quite a few recalls of lead toy jewelry the last few years, including 20 recalls just this year alone already. And the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been warning parents about magnets in toys for years too. In fact, magnets are number one on their list of Top Five Hidden Home Hazards. This is not to minimize the problem, but you wonder where all of the media attention was before they were able to attach the name 'Mattel' to the recalls...
As we hear media reports of the 'massive' recall, it is also important to keep things in perspective. It is terrible that toy companies are selling unsafe toys, but fortunately, especially when you consider the scale of the recalls, few kids have been affected. On the other hand, many kids are injured or killed every day because they aren't in a booster seat, ride a bike without a helmet, play on trampolines, use a scooter without a helmet or pads, are using things that have already been recalled and never taken away, or have hidden hazards in their home. Other homes don't have a working smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, or they have a pool that doesn't have a pool fence around it.
So in addition to taking away recalled toys from your kids, considering a lead test on your child if you are concerned about the lead exposure, use all of this attention towards 'safety' to make sure your kids are safe from all of the other hazards in your home.
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Photo courtesy of the CPSC.
Comments
I agree, there are so many hidden dangers that parents do not even check for.
One year something can be totally safe to use and inspected, but later on down the road someone finds out it’s not that safe after all. Everything now days usually have something wrong with them or could have. As a parent you need to think and check it out and always watch to see if the toy is still safe.
I would buy a lead kit and check the toys I buy my kids to be on the safe side. Everyone know (anyway they should) that cheaply made toy are not safe but people buy them all the time. There are more and more stores opening up that sell cheep toys. A toy that is more expensive is usually made safer so stuff does not break as fast or fall off it. But Parents still buy the cheaper toys to give there kids. You can not get away from any product now days that break. Everything is made cheaper, to break faster so consumers will buy more. So company can make money to keep people working. It is a never ending cycle.
So parents need to watch and check what they buy there kids if they are so worried.
Just my opinion
It’s amazing that I survived as a child! No one ever talked about lead in toys,we didn’t have safety belts, helmets, and all the precationary stuff we have now.
If you rode your bike or skated and fell down, oh well, you went and got a bandage.
There was lead in the paint you put on your walls. But we didn’t EAT it!!!!
Glad I was raised in a time without all these recalls, and my kids also. And guess what? We survived!!!!!
I think what Dr. Iannelli said is great. Now if he would just tell us how much Mattel paid him to say it, we could put the comments in perspective. Yes, the reason the Mattel label is on it is precisely the reason it receives attention. You expect better quality control from a major company than some no-brand that goes directly from China to the back-wall bin of a $1 store. I certainly don’t suggest Mattel did this intentionally, but it is a wake-up call to the company that it has to greatly step up its QC procedure on stuff that comes from China. I don’t see this issue is related to safety in the home. Just because our children eat candy, would we tolerate a major fruit juice manufacturer labeling a product as “sugar-free” if it was laced with corn syrup and fructose? Corporate responsibility isn’t absolved because of what we do or don’t do in our own homes.
Just a comment about Sheila’s comment:
Just because YOU survived a hazard doesn’t make it less real. Anbody in the Safety field will tell you that most of the time, hazards don’t result in accidents. But sometimes they do, and if one of those times had been you or your kid, you’d be singing a different tune.
In addition, just because you didn’t die doesn’t mean you were not negatively affected by it. And, based on the logic you used in your post, I would argue that you have had some brain damage from lead exposure.
Sheila,
lots of kids DID eat lead paint in the 70s. No, they weren’t drinking it from the can - but picture millions of teething children chewing on crib rails, at the perfect height of your lead-painted wooden windowsill, sinking their teeth into it. Babies will chew on anything. And paint flecks off - kids put it in their mouths!
That said, I agree with the doctor’s comments. My children’s doctor basically said the same thing when I asked him. An ounce of common sense would go a long way - while it’s good to take precautions, you don’t need to go into panic mode about it.
I personally think lead is bad and that people should get out there and do something about it not sit around and argue on some website
P.S. i’m just a 10 year old kid