Group advises consumers on potentially unsafe toys

Since 1990, toys have contributed to 272 children's deaths, the group says.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- A consumer watchdog group warned parents Tuesday against toys that can choke, strangle or deafen children or contain potentially toxic chemicals.
The caution, coming just before massive post-Thanksgiving sales on Friday, which launches the holiday buying spree, cited some toys that may violate a federal ban on small parts in toys intended for children under age 3. Among them are small plastic rattles with metal balls and tiny finger paint sets.
Researchers for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an offshoot that consumer advocate Ralph Nader helped found, also attacked the Yo-Yo Water Toy -- essentially a ball on a rubber tether -- which they said could strangle a child.
Toy-related injuries have killed 272 children since 1990, according to the group. Last year they killed 16 children and provoked more than 200,000 emergency room visits. Over the past 15 years, 157 kids died after swallowing balloons, marbles, small balls and other toy parts, the group reported. Falling off riding toys such as scooters caused the second largest number of deaths, 73.
Using caution
Alison Cassady, PIRG's research director, advised parents to think about how toys fit their kids before they buy.
"If your little girl always puts things in her mouth, then don't buy toys with small parts," she said
How small is small? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises that if a toy or detachable toy part can fit through a cardboard toilet paper tube, then it's too small for toddlers under 3 or kids who put toys in their mouths. The agency requires warning labels on toys with small parts aimed at children between ages 3 and 6.
PIRG and the federal product safety commission -- which will release its own hazardous toy list next week -- disagree on the danger posed by phthalates, a toxic chemical used to soften plastic. PIRG researchers claim to have found "detectable" phthalate levels in some teething rings and pacifiers, but commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said "trace" amounts pose no risk.