Safety Agency Urges Parental Vigilance on Toys
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WASHINGTON — Despite a record number of recalls this year, potentially dangerous toys remain on store shelves days before the start of the busy holiday shopping season, consumer groups warned yesterday. Federal regulators, under fire for lax enforcement, urged shoppers to be vigilant.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has worked closely with Mattel Inc. and other manufacturers on recalls of millions of toys tainted with lead and other products, yet two consumer investigations released yesterday cited possible violations, including sales of toys with small parts that could pose a choking hazard. “Why is it we are the ones that are getting this information out to parents, and not the government and not the toy companies?” Charles Margulis of the Center for Environmental Health asked.
In CPSC’s annual toy safety message, Nancy Nord, the acting head of the CPSC, sought to reassure parents that the agency was doing all it can to remove unsafe toys. She noted the Chinese government recently had signed agreements to help prevent lead-painted toys from reaching America.
“Toys today are undergoing more inspection and more intense scrutiny than ever before,” Ms. Nord said, citing CPSC’s “daily commitment to keeping consumers safe 365 days a year.”
Still, Ms. Nord, who was traveling yesterday and could not be reached for comment, urged parents to read product warning labels carefully and sign up to receive direct e-mail notices of recalls at www.cpsc.gov. A CPSC spokeswoman, Julie Vallese, also sought to downplay the significance of the two consumer surveys, calling the outside reports “subjective” and “confusing.”
Ms. Vallese left the door open to the possibility of several more CPSC recalls before year’s end, declining to say if most dangerous toys had already been removed from store shelves given the recent spate of toy recalls. “When we find violations, we will announce them,” she told the Associated Press.
Joan Lawrence, a vice president of the Toy Industry Association, said more recalls were probable given recent manufacturer retesting of products. “That’s why it’s so important for consumers to pay attention to recall notices,” Ms. Lawrence said.
