Lead in Kids' Toys a Crisis

I think it’s fair to call the “kid’s toys” situation a crisis. As yesterday’s New York Times reports, “Despite a two-year effort to eliminate the threat of poisonous lead in inexpensive children’s jewelry, hundreds of thousands of tainted items are still being sold across the United States.”

Because of this negligence, thousands of children are getting sick. One 4-year-old boy who swallowed a charm coated with lead died a horrible death after suffering seizures, vomiting and respiratory failure.

Scott Wolfson of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says "We want to get to a point of not having to do recall after recall and simply make the marketplace safe." Good idea.  As my blog yesterday (see below) reports, legislation is in the works, but it will no doubt take months before any law is passed to protect our kids.

We don’t have to wait that long. First, stop buying toys made in China right now. There are plenty of safe toys being made in the U.S. and elsewhere. Second, let toy stores know they’ll lose your business unless they demand safe products from their manufacturers. Let store managers know in person, where you shop, or call corporate headquarters of the major toy retailers (names and phone numbers in my blog below).

Here’s the link to the most recent NY Times story.