Toy recalls in 2007 were due to high levels of lead, unsafe building practices, and some toys producing GHB. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is responsible for toy recalls in the US and provides a comprehensive list on their website. The European Consumer Center Network is a similar agency in Europe. It’s important to check recall lists for both regions to ensure toy safety.
2007 was marked by an increasing number of toy recalls, mainly due to the presence of high amounts of lead in toys. There were exceptions to this rule, such as the Aqua Bead® product, which when the beads are ingested they have a chemical reaction with the body, producing GHB, also known as a date rape drug. Toy recalls also occur when toys don’t meet safe building practices. For example, toys that pose a choking hazard are being recalled.
You may listen, watch, or read the news to find out the latest on toy recalls, but not everyone has the time every single day to do so. Many newspapers list a handy recall section, which covers the latest toys and also lists any unsafe foods or other products that are on the recall list. This might be listed once a week in your paper and the days it is published vary. Many parenting websites are also great resources for discovering recalled toys.
The agency responsible for toy recalls in the United States is the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). If you want the most comprehensive list of toy recalls in the United States, this is clearly the site to visit. Just search their central site to find all of the recently recalled toys; use the search term recalled toys or toy recalls. You will get a list of each product. The CPSC also provides information about why the toy was recalled, which can be important in helping decide whether or not a toy your child currently owns should be discarded.
You can also call the CPSC Product Safety Hotline at 1-800-638-2772. Note that CPSC also calls for other types of consumer goods. These include things like household appliances, furniture, safety gear like bike helmets, and many yard and garden appliances like lawn mowers.
The CPSC can determine which toys have currently been deemed unsafe, through independent testing or consumer reporting. You can indeed report an unsafe toy to the agency through their website. This doesn’t mean that every toy on the market is safe; it just means that the CPSC hasn’t tested it yet or received reports of security issues.
Europe has a similar agency, the European Consumer Center Network. Whether you’re shopping in the European Union, receiving gifts from Europe, or simply want to determine the safety of a toy shipped from Europe, this is probably the best resource for consumers. It may be important to check their toy recall lists as well, as sometimes their lists are faster than those in the US, and they may have toys unique to the EU that you won’t find in the US.
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