As I was reading The Orlando Sentinel on-line today I saw this article "How to find safe toys for the holidays" from the Sentinel help team. I clicked on it to read it. What jumped out at me, are the lines below, so I included them here.
I honestly had no clue that 80% of toys are made in China. With all of the recalls from lead-paint are toy makers not concerned the least bit about toy safety or is it all about the mighty dollar? This is both suprising and frightening to me.
Are they not concerned about the company's image or again is it about the mighty dollar?
The paragraphs below mention a lead-paint testing kit, which can be found at hardware or paint stores, I also think Home depot would carry this. If you have children you may want to pick up a kit to test toys before you give them as a holiday gift.
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Parents wanting to avoid Chinese toys altogether may find there are few remaining options, said Don Mays, a consumer-product safety expert at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.
"Eighty percent of U.S. toys are made in China, so unless you want to buy your child a puppy for Christmas, you are pretty much stuck with buying toys from China," said Mays, the union's senior director of product safety planning.
Along with keeping track of the constant stream of recall news, Mays suggests that parents avoid buying toys from dollar stores or flea markets this holiday season. Further, he said, do-it-yourself lead-testing kits sold at hardware stores could serve as another potential aid.
The kits, which the Consumer Product Safety Commission recently said are unreliable, are not perfect, Mays admits. Still, he said, "they can be a good screening tool to see if there is an excessive level of lead in toys."
"At the least," he added, "it would give them more information than they have now."
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Comments: 16
I tried looking up toys made in countries I think would be safer, too- the UK, Canada, France, etc. Again, shockingly empty handed.
I would hope that this huge toy scare would effect toy sales at Christmas this year, but I have a feeling it won't affect it by much. There are those who just are not worried unless it is ON a recall list.
I like you think this toy scare should affect toy companies, but you I think it will not unless the toy is on a recall list.
I think everyone with children should buy a lead-paint testing kit, and use it on any toys they paln to give as presents.
I will keep this group: http://recalls4safety.gather.com/
as up to date with recalls as I can.
Please if any of you find any recalls include http://recalls4safety.gather.com/
in the recall notice.