I am sick of all the recall notices for children's toys lately. Since I never paid attention to them up until 2 years ago, I can't tell if there are a lot more now than there used to be. But I'm pretty sure there are.
I recently subscribed to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission email list. The first day after I joined there were 7 toy recalls, all due to excessive lead. Nothing that we have has been recalled, but it did include a baby toy that we own (we got it when Elliot was a baby, though, so ours wasn't included in the recall. Yet.)
This morning a woman in my moms' group sent out a note alerting us to a Cub Scout badge recall; it was found to have too much lead in it. I forwarded it to my friend Eva, who has two boys in Scouts, and she told me her younger son has the recalled badge. *sigh*
Earlier this summer there was a large recall of Thomas the Tank Engine trains. All of our trains were made several years ago, so again, we weren't effected. People were supposed to send in their tainted trains and receive replacements in the mail. I recently read that one of the replacement trains has now been recalled due to excessive lead.
What are the effects of lead? Lead acts as a neurotoxin, disrupting the development of the nervous system (which is why it is so harmful to children). It can cause impaired cognitive abilities, headaches, insomnia, nausea, anemia, kidney problems, and reproductive problems. Although the government has set standards for how much lead is acceptable in household items, there really is no safe level of lead in humans. Wikipedia has a good article on lead poisoning.
I'm giving rum-soaked fruit cakes to the kids for Christmas this year. Surely that will be safer.
Posted by Jen at October 5, 2007 09:52 AMStick to wooden toys from Astoria, Queens.
Posted by: Jessica at October 6, 2007 05:50 AM