When shopping for toys for her 18-month-old daughter, Elena Varipatis Baker tries to picture whether the toy is small enough to slip through a toilet paper roll – a sure sign the toy could be a choking hazard.
“I keep that visual in my mind,” Baker said Tuesday after a news conference at Port Discovery children’s museum in Baltimore.
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Baker also tries to buy her daughter, Stella, toys from trusted stores or name brand companies to avoid toys with lead or other toxic chemicals. And when in doubt, Baker said, she opts for something made from wood or cloth.
“I think it’s really important to take the time to read labels and be careful,” said Baker, of Anneslie in Baltimore County.
Despite laws setting limits on lead levels or requiring explicit choking hazard warning labels, hazardous toys are still sold in stores, often leaving it up to parents to vigilant, said Kristi Horvath, a policy associate with Maryland Public Interest Research Group, which released its annual report Tuesday on toy hazards.
“Please remember that not all toys are tested before they go on the shelves,” she said.
In 2007, more than 80,000 children under the age of 5 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for toy-related injuries, according to the advocacy group’s report.
In the past two years, at least 33 children have choked to death on balls, balloons or parts of toys.
High levels of lead, which is a neurotoxin, continue to be found in toys, and Maryland PIRG researchers recently discovered a child’s key chain that was 45 percent lead by weight – 750 times the level allowed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
A new federal law that takes effect in February bans lead and phthalates — toxic chemicals used to make plastic softer — in toys, improves the inspection process and establishes a database of reported hazards, according to Maryland PIRG.
However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is allowing companies to continue to sell toys with phthalates in them until they run out, which could take years, Horvath said.
Horvath called on the commission to reverse that decision and ensure the new law is followed.
In the meantime, parents must remember that not all toys sold are going to be safe, Attorney General Doug Gansler said at the news conference.
“We need to be vigilant in terms of enforcement,” Gansler said, “but we also need to remind parents they have a role in this.”
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