New Site Helps Identify Safer Toys

I have to admit that I'm stressed about all of the recent lead recalls. I feel a bit silly since I'm certain that most of the toys I grew up with were somehow toxic, but I have two very little kids and I'm paranoid about giving them anything. The recall information is helpful and we've been lucky that none of the far-too-many toys in our home have been recalled, but what about all of the other toys? Are they safe? Or have they just not been tested?

Luckily, there's a new kid on the block in the battle against unhealthy toys. The Ecology Center of Michigan, in conjunction with a variety of environmental groups across the US, has launched HealthyToys.org. The site serves as a guide to toy safety, with an Action Guide and the ability to search through more than 1,000 toys to find out which ones are safe, and which are not. The group tests for lead, cadmium, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and arsenic. They report back on low, medium and high levels in each toy.

One of my biggest frustrations with the recall information is that it doesn't really make me feel better about the toys not on the recall list. It's possible they were never tested, so I can't really know if they're safe or not. HealthyToys.org allows you to nominate toys to be tested. They will test the most popular products and report back.

Although there is still no guarantee that your toys are safe (different batches of toys use different batches of paint), having access to this sort of information makes me feel a bit better. Hopefully by next year, the US will have more stringent guidelines about which chemicals are, and are not, safe for our children. And then they'll follow that with harsher penalties for falling short of those guidelines.

Hey, maybe I'll ask Santa for THAT for Christmas!