Toys – How Safe Are They?

There have been a few reports of defective toys that have been imported into theUnited States.  Overall, how safe are the toys our children play with?

Most consumers would be very surprised to learn that toy manufacturers, especially those in theUS, do not take toy safety lightly.  Many companies have whole departments and staffs dedicated to watching each and every detail in the development of toys for your child.  How would I know this?  I have been in the toy industry for 25 years, and currently own USA Pool & Toy which is a pool toy and beach gift manufacturer and distributor.  In addition, I own and operate a toy website dedicated to providing children with fun, unique outdoor toys to get them up and moving outside.  I wanted to provide the other side of the coin to round out the information recently provided by the media.  Unfortunately, we often only hear the negative, but not the many positives of an issue.

Manufacturers must meet or exceed stringent specifications provided by the Consumer Products Commission when manufacturing toys for theUnited States.  Toys are sent to testing labs for review and testing which includes lead in paint, determining if a toy is safe for certain ages, choking hazards, and more.  Upon meeting or exceeding the requirements, the lab will issue testing certificates to the manufacturer that the toy has passed the testing requirements.

So what happened recently?  Well it has almost become a vicious cycle.  A simplistic way to explain it is consumers demand products at a certain perceived value.  Today’s toy world consists mainly of large stores with large toy departments replacing most of the specialty toy stores and mom and pop toys stores of only a few decades ago.  These large stores are required to continually strive to improve the bottom line.  If they cannot get a price increase from the consumer, their other option is to push for more and more concessions from the manufacturer.  The manufacturer can only be squeezed so far before it too must push for pricing concessions from the factory – many of which are in China.

One can only speculate what happened with the recent recall, but it would appear than a human mistake was made during the manufacturing process.  With the millions of toys sold each year in department, mass market, specialty and other stores, the recent toy recall is not the norm, but rather an isolated incident that has been dealt with quickly and efficiently by a reputable toy manufacturer.  Every company involved in placing that toy on the shelf has a vested interest in making sure that toy is safe for your child.

An important point to remember, however, is we as consumers must also do our part to ensure our children are safe when playing with their toys. This does include adult supervision when the child is young, ensuring the toy is being used as it was developed to be used, and purchasing products designed for your particular child’s age and development level.