01.Introduction
In brief
- CHOICE tested 30 toys against relevant sections of the Australian standard.
- The bad news: almost half failed tests designed to identify possible choking hazards.
- The good news: none failed tests for the presence of lead and other heavy metals in paint.
- Our toy tests showed many just aren't up to scratch. In a year punctuated with massive worldwide recalls of unsafe toys - when manufacturer and retailer awareness of toy safety should be high - this is of great concern.
- The current piecemeal approach to toy safety regulation leaves consumers - and children - more at risk of dangerous products.
The Year of the Toxic Toy: that’s what 2007 has been dubbed, with several major recalls affecting respected brands like FISHER-PRICE, MATTEL and RC2 of toys contaminated with lead paint. Further recalls of toys containing small magnets were announced, involving millions of toys worldwide. Again, it was the big brands that were affected, such as MATTEL’s Barbie and Polly Pocket products. Many other toys with less well-known brands were recalled for being a choking hazard.
Do you want regular or unleaded?
In addition to the big, well-known brands, checks of toys sold in showbags at the 2007 Perth Royal Show found many toys contaminated with lead and other heavy metals (cadmium and barium). Many of the toys were also in showbags sold earlier at Brisbane’s Ekka show, and parents were warned to take them away from their kids. Such toys included jewellery, masks, wooden blocks from the popular Play School bag and even fake teeth — which would certainly go in the mouth.
Excessive exposure to lead can cause learning difficulties, brain damage, attention disorders, hearing loss, slowed growth and behavioural problems. It can be inhaled, absorbed through the skin or swallowed, and children are particularly susceptible to it because they can absorb up to 50% of the lead to which they’re exposed (compared to 10% for adults). Eating a chip of lead paint the size of a fingernail would make a child’s lead level dangerously high.
In September 2007, the Federal Government banned toys containing more than a certain level of lead, which means if someone’s caught supplying such toys, they face large fines as well as a costly product recall. The states have since mirrored this legislation to close a loophole that would otherwise have excluded small unincorporated retailers, such as markets, garage sales and discount stores from this legislation (these dealers fall under the jurisdiction of the states).