New York City – Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, the New York Public Interest Research Group announced today in its 25th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

NYPIRG’s report, released this morning, reveals the results of laboratory testing for toxic chemicals, identifies toys that pose choking hazards, and includes guidance for avoiding common hazards.

“We’ve made a lot of progress, but dangerous toys still make it into our homes,” said NYPIRG’s Consumer Rights Advocate, Megan Ahearn. “NYPIRG’s report and the resources we offer will help consumers identify and avoid the worst threats and keep their loved ones safe this year,” she explained.

For 25 years, the NYPIRG Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards. The group also provides an interactive website with tips for safe toy shopping that consumers can access on their smartphones at www.toysafety.mobi.

Key findings from the report include:

•In 2009, many toys and other children’s products containing more than 0.1% of phthalates were banned. Still, NYPIRG found children’s products, including a baby doll that contained concentrations of phthalates up to 30%.

•Despite a ban on small parts in toys for children under three, there are still toys available that pose serious choking hazards, including a toy train with a wooden peg that, while compliant with current standards, nearly led to the choking death of a DC-area toddler. NYPIRG also found a construction playset with parts that posed a choking hazard at K-Marts, Toys R Us stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens and Targets in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

•Lead and other metals have been severely restricted in toys in the past two years, but NYPIRG researchers found toys containing toxic lead and antimony on store shelves in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Lead has negative health effects on almost every organ and system in the human body, and antimony is classified as a human carcinogen. Laboratory testing revealed one preschool book with antimony far above the limits and NYPIRG has notified the CPSC.

NYPIRG noted that progress has been made on toy safety in the past two years thanks to a 2008 PIRG-backed law overhauling the CPSC, as well as new leadership at the agency.

The CPSC is doing a good job under its expanded authority, but there is still more work to be done. Especially when it comes to eliminating choking hazards and regulating the tens of thousands of chemicals that are in the toys that our children play with every day,” said Ahearn.

According to the most recent data from the CPSC, toy-related injuries sent more than 250,000 children — 90,000 of them under five years old — to emergency rooms in 2009. Twelve children died from toy-related injuries that year.

Click here to read the full report

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)