MassPIRG Releases 'Trouble in Toyland' Report| 05:27PM / Tuesday, November 22, 2016 | |
 Edward Laird, student board representative with MassPIRG, displays this year's toy safety report at its unveiling at BCC on Tuesday. |
State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Laird and Dr. Tochi Ubani discuss the dangers posed by recalled toys.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some toys that have been recalled for lead, overheating, and choking hazards can still be available for sale in online stores.
That's according to Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group Education Fund's 31st annual Trouble in Toyland report released on Tuesday.
The survey of potentially hazardous toys by U.S. PIRG found that consumers should be wary when shopping this holiday season.
The report lists toys recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission from January 2015 to October 2016 with the message to consumers that these recalled toys may still be in homes. For large items such as motor vehicles, when they get recalled, owners will usually be contacted immediately through VIN numbers. However, that's not the case with toy recalls.
"We should be able to trust that the toys we buy are safe. However, until that's the case, consumers should understand two things: first, not all recalls may be well-publicized so you should check your house for previously recalled toys and second, some toys that are recalled may still be available online," said Edward Laird, student board representative with MassPIRG.
Parents and caregivers should test the toys and products they purchase by using a choke test cylinder.
"It is more reliable to test whether a toy poses a choking hazard by using a large test cylinder – like an empty toilet paper roll – If it fits in the tube, it is too small for a child under 3," said Laird.
For more than 30 years, the Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and has led to more than 150 recalls and other enforcement actions.
"Consumer Protection is one of the crucial roles of government," said state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, who attended a press conference on the report at Berkshire Community College. "We need to do everything we can to ensure that dangerous toys aren't on toy shelves and not in the hands of consumers. A common place that toys that are choking hazards and/or contain dangerous chemicals are found are at discount stores like the Dollar Store, where some of our most vulnerable families are looking for affordable toys. A child with few resources deserves to be safe exactly as much as one from a well-resourced family."
Also in attendance at the BCC event was Dr. Tochi Ubani, director of nursing for the college.
"Kids are not thinking about if the toys that they play with are safe and you can't control whether they put something in their mouths," said Ubani. He is hopeful that families will talk more about unsafe toys, especially around the holidays. "Do not 'toy' with your kids' safety."
Some examples of recalled toys still for sale include:
• A toy glockenspiel that was recalled in February 2016 because of high levels of lead in the paint.
• A remote-controlled flying toy that was recalled in June 2016. The toy's USB charging cord can overheat, posing a hazard.
• A pencil case that contains two magnets that hold the case lid closed can detach, posing an ingestion hazard. If these two magnets are swallowed, they can link together inside a child's intestines and result in serious internal injuries.
The report includes a full list of recalled toys, those that we found available for sale online, as well as specific information including manufacturers' names, pictures, and remedies for what consumers should do if they have the recalled toys in their homes.
It is illegal to sell a recalled product under CPSC rules and MassPIRG has notified the CPSC about these potentially illegal sales. The nonprofit advocacy group has called on the CPSC to be more proactive in its efforts and increase awareness of its public hazard database, SaferProducts.gov.
Parents and caregivers can subscribe to updates from CPSC and other U.S. government safety agencies available at www.recalls.gov and use toysafetytips.org. They can also help by reporting unsafe toys to Saferproducts.gov.
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