From GoodHouseKeeping:
GoodHousekeeping asked the experts how you can make wise choices — and still make your children’s dreams come true.
This year’s recalls of dangerous toys — coated with lead paint, or equipped with potentially lethal magnets — alerted parents to an unsettling fact: Government oversight of the industry is so minimal that toy makers’ compliance with safety standards is basically on the honor system. “When toys make it onto store shelves, parents assume that they’ve passed some rigorous standards,” says James Swartz, director of WATCH (World Against Toys Causing Harm), a nonprofit advocacy group. “The very hard lesson of the past few months is that this is not so.”
The spotlight on safety has raised hopes for new laws requiring mandatory testing of toys. In the meantime, however, protection is a parent’s job. In 2005, an estimated 152,400 children nationwide were treated in hospital emergency rooms after toy-related incidents, including choking and strangulation, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). How do you keep your kid from becoming a statistic? Unfortunately, home lead-test kits aren’t foolproof; they can yield false negatives, as GH reported in September 2007 in Playing with Poison. But there are plenty of other ways to keep your child safe. Take these steps while shopping, at holiday time and beyond.
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/safety/safe-toys-1207