Congress Passes Legislation Banning the Sale of Dangerous Lawn Dart Toy

David Snow, the Riverside father who has spent the last 18 months running a one-man campaign against the lawn dart--the metal-tipped toy that killed his young daughter--won another victory Friday when Congress passed legislation to ban the sale of the toy.

The vote was a largely symbolic triumph. In response to Snow’s persistent campaign of letter writing and trips to Congress, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to ban the toy last May. That ban will take effect in early December, pending a final commission vote next week, a commission spokesman said.

The congressional legislation, passed in the House by a 304-51 vote and by acclamation in the Senate, orders the commission to prohibit sale of lawn darts within 60 days.

The darts have become popular as a yard game, with up to 1.5 million sold each year and about 50,000 currently on store shelves. The one-pound, metal-tipped darts are tossed through the air, with the points sticking into the ground in or near a target.

In the spring of 1987, Snow bought a combination set of several outdoor games. He did not know lawn darts were included and did not see the small hazardous-to-children warning on the package, which is required under federal law. His 7-year-old daughter, Michelle, was struck in the head by one of the darts thrown by another child and died several days later.

Snow began spending virtually all his free time and his savings account trying to lobby the federal bureaucracy to ban lawn darts. Publicity about his effort soon persuaded the commission to order a study. It found that injuries caused by the toy had sent nearly 5,000 children to hospital emergency rooms during the last decade, and that firms importing lawn darts routinely violated federal guidelines requiring warning labels.

Snow persuaded Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) to introduce a lawn dart ban bill last March, but it was stalled in committee as the 100th Congress neared adjournment.

After CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired a report on Snow’s crusade Sunday, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced a separate lawn dart ban bill modeled after Wilson’s. The bill was brought immediately to the floor without the normal committee hearings.

Snow, a former aerospace engineer, quit his job earlier this year to form a foundation dedicated to child toy safety.