California Public Interest Research Group, or CALPIRG has released its 25th annual "Trouble in Toyland" report. Researchers tested more than 200 toys and found potentially unsafe levels of toxins and small parts that could choke young children.
Austin Price is with CALPIRG. He highlighted some of the toys that were flagged in the report at a Sacramento-area daycare:
"These are plastic handcuffs, and they had antimony, which is a carcinogen used in surface covering at 1200 parts per million, which is 20 times the safety standard."
Price says they also found a kids' book with illegal levels of
antimony, as well as toys with phthalates (THAH-laytes), which are
used to make plastics softer. Some phthalates are banned in
products meant to be put in the mouths of small children. Price
says since CALPIRG first started doing its toy survey more than two
decades ago, the number of unsafe toys has dropped
significantly.