CPSC's Town Hall Meeting on Toy Safety
The CPSC held a town hall meeting in New York this week to discuss toy safety and the new federal regulations involving toys. Chairman Tenebaum is hoping that the new standards instituted this year will help parents, grandparents and others in their toy selections this holiday season. Some of the new regulations over the past year are:
* federal limits for lead in paint on children's toys dropped to 90 parts per million, which is among the lowest in the world;
* toys for children 12 and younger must now be tested and certified that they meet the new lead in paint limits;
* children's toys cannot be made or sold with more than 300 parts per million of total lead;
* children's toys cannot be made or sold with more than 0.1% of six prohibited phthalates;
* and most children's toys now fall under mandatory standards, instead of voluntary ones.
At the town hall meeting, some stats for the past two years were discussed.
So far in calendar year 2009, CPSC has had 38 toy recalls, which is down from 162 in 2008 and 148 in 2007. Toy recalls involving lead paint are also down. This year there has been 14 recalls involving lead, down from 63 in 2007 and 85 in 2008. CPSC attributes this decline to increased enforcement at the ports, cooperation with other nations, consumer awareness and education and compliance by the industry with new federal safety rules.
For 2008, the Commission has reports of 19 toy-related deaths and about 172,700 hospital emergency room treated toy-related injuries to children under 15. Almost half of these injuries, approximately 82,300 were to children younger than 5 years of age. Most of the deaths were associated with drowning, motor vehicle involvement, or airway obstruction from a small toy or small part of a toy.
If your child has suffered an injury, please contact our office to discuss your potential legal matter. We can be reached toll-free 1-877-829-7211 or by email contact@hardisonwood.com.
