Chemical Awareness

Healthy Toys

www.HealthyToys.org, a nonprofit created by the the Michigan-based Ecology Center and the Washington Toxics Coalition, has compiled a database of test results for more than 1,200 toys and children’s products. Each product tested was given an overall rating of low, medium, or high as well as an individual chemical rating. The tests have found that some toys contain chemicals of concern, including heavy metals such as lead and cadmium.

An independent evaluation of the toys is necessary, says HealthyToys.org, because the presence of toxic chemicals in consumer products is perfectly legal in the United States. The only US law regarding chemicals and toys is the one restricting lead—and that law applies only to paint, not to the lead found in the product’s composition. Currently the only standard for chemicals in children’s toys is a voluntary industry standard that cannot be legally enforced.

The following are just a few of the 146 products (out of the original 1,200 tested) that were found to have no detectable traces of lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic, mercury, antimony, tin, bromine, or chromium in any components tested: Discover Sounds Guitar by Little Tikes, Alphabet Pal by Leap Frog Enterprises, Classical Stacker by Fisher-Price, James the Thomas the Tank Engine, Madame Alexander Holiday Doll by Alexander Doll Co., Pink Beak Necklace by Hannah Montana, and Amazing Animal Hippo by Fisher-Price.

If a toy isn’t in the database, visit the Toy Rankings section of the www.HealthyToys.org Web site and click on the Vote for a Product bar to see if the toy is on the list suggested for testing. If so, cast your vote. If it’s not there, nominate your toy for testing. This organization regularly tests the most requested toys.