US takes on toxic toys

The US Senate yesterday waved through a bill that is set to reform consumer protection law in the US and force toy manufacturers to remove dangerous chemicals from more of their products.

Measures contained in the bill include a ban on six different phthalate chemicals in children's toys, and a new database with information documenting safety complaints concerning consumer products.

Bill H.R 4040, which should land on the President’s desk in the next few days, makes it mandatory to test certain products to be used by children under eight years old.

The bill was passed after a long period of debate at the Consumer Product Safety Commission Conference, during which differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill were debated.

The phthalate ban, introduced as an amendment by Senator Dianne Feinstein, was a sticking point for the legislation. "On phthalates, there was a lot of industry opposition," said Elizabeth Hitchcock, public health advocate at US PIRG, the federation of public interest research groups, who explained that industry groups also opposed the third party testing of toys.

"This was a big victory for American’s littlest consumers," said Hitchcock. "Last year, we experienced more than 45m recalls of children’s products, 30m of which were toys. The CPSC discovered trouble with those products including lead content that was many times the allowable level, and problems with small magnets that dislodge from the products. Those magnets are powerful so they attract to each other in the body."

California's own ban on phthalates in toys takes effect next year, and Europe banned the use of phthalates in toys in 2005. Mattel, said to have protested the European ban, did not return calls from BusinessGreen.com.

Hitchock also pointed to the database as a victory for consumers. "We already have this for the Food and Drug Administration," she said. "But someone shopping for a crib ought to go online at a government web site to see if there have been problems with the Acme Crib Company's crib."