HealthyToys.org Reports High Toxic Levels In Children's Toys

Holiday favorite toys and children's gifts including the Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game, Tyrell Katz vinyl backpack, Squeeze Fish and My Little Sunshine Mirror were found to have high toxic levels.

No government agency is adequately assuring that children's products do not contain harmful chemicals. Nor does any agency require labeling or disclosure to inform consumers about the chemical components of children's products. HealthyToys.org was launched to address the failures of our current system to regulate chemicals in products.

HealthyToys.org tested over 1,200 children's products and more than 3,000 components of those products. Currently, the U.S. government and U.S. toy manufacturers are not providing this data to consumers. Our testing is not necessarily representative of all of the toys on the market. In addition, the presence of a chemical in a product does not necessarily mean there is exposure. Our sampling was conducted by non-profit citizen advocacy and environmental health organizations. HealthyToys.org found:

Lead in products is widespread. Lead is used in a significant percentage of children's toys: Lead was detected in 35% of the 1,268 products we tested.

Other dangerous chemicals were found in toys. Of those toys tested for other chemicals, we found cadmium at levels greater than 100 ppm in 2.9% of products or 22 of 764 total products tested for cadmium . Arsenic was detected at levels greater than 100 ppm in 2.2% of products or 17 of 764 total products tested for arsenic. Mercury was found above 100 ppm in .7% of products or five toys of 764 tested.

More toys, research and finding can be found at the web site.

Source: HealthyToys.org