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Toy
Safety Article: The information you need to make safe toy choices and
valuable tips on what you as parents and caregivers
can do to protect
your children from unsafe toys!
Toys and Their Safety Standards
By Rachel Nunez
When I choose a toy to give to my godchildren or niece or nephews,
the first thing I look into is the age recommendation. I actually only
consider two factors when buying toys for kids - age appropriateness
and my budget.
Reading about baby injuries caused by what I consider to be pretty
harmless toys made me rethink my selection criteria. It made me aware
about the safety aspect of kids' toys. After a few hours of Internet
surfing, I've learned that:
1. Toys must not have sharp surfaces or points.
2. Toys for kids under three years of age must not contain small
parts or produce small parts when they break, like rattles with small
balls in them.
3. Toys must not have pinching parts or wires that could poke through.
4. Stuffed toys or dolls should have no ribbons, strings, cords, or necklaces that can be wrapped around a child's neck.
5. Any toy that can fit through a toilet paper tube is a choking and ingestion hazard.
6. Projectile toys like darts and slingshots are for older children.
7. I should also consider if there are younger siblings that can be
interested to the toy because that toy can be a potential hazard for
the younger ones.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission bans toys for sale in the
U.S. that do not pass federal safety standards on small parts, low
levels of lead in paint, flammability limits, and hazardous chemicals.
In August 2008, new toy safety standards have become a law in the
U.S. The law requires, among others, lead levels in painted toys to be
reduced to 100 parts per million and phthalate content to be below 0.1
percent. It also requires mandatory testing and safety certifications
as well as tracking information for parents to easily find out if the
toy they bought has been recalled. For some parents, the new law might
not be the solution to some problems on child safety but it is a good
start.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a lot of information for
parents like safety tips not only on toys but also on baby cribs and
play yards, bicycles, pools, playgrounds and playpens. A visit at their
Web site, www.cpsc.gov, is enlightening. There's an updated list of
recalled toys and other products in the site that will prove to be
helpful for parents.
Parents can even receive direct e-mail notification of product
recalls through the agency's Web site. This is one free e-mail
subscription parents should have. They can also subscribe to
electronically receive new recalls and safety information at
www.recalls.gov.
A blog by independent and nonprofit organization, Consumers Union,
is another great site for parents to visit. The site is regularly
updated with safety news and tips from the Consumer Product Safety
Commission as well as news relating to child safety from publishers
like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San
Francisco Chronicle, and Time magazine.
There is so much to learn about toys and their safety standards.
Hopefully, we all can be made aware of these standards to prevent
tragedies.
For more tips and information about kids toys, check out http://www.thekidstoystore.com/toddlertoys.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Nunez
http://EzineArticles.com/?Toys-and-Their-Safety-Standards&id=1662675
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