Dangerous Toys on Rise, Group Warns
A 4-year-old Connecticut boy is just one victim of a barrage of potentially dangerous toys that will bombard parents looking for perfect toys as holiday gifts for children, a consumer group said Monday.
“We think that it’s a more dangerous situation this year than we’ve remembered in our 18 years of toy surveying,” Ann Brown, chairwoman of the Consumer Affairs Committee of Americans for Democratic Action, said in releasing the group’s annual toy safety and quality report.
Brown was joined by Judy Lavoie and her son, Greg, of Bethel, Conn.
Greg had two operations after perforating his eardrum with a packing stick included with the Pepsi-Cola/Coca-Cola Delivery Truck, listed by the consumer group as one of its most potentially dangerous toys.
Lavoie said the manufacturer, New Jersey-based Buddy L Corp., told her that the package clearly states the stick is a part of the packaging and not the toy, but she displayed an unopened model of the toy she said she bought over the weekend that didn’t include that information.
The manufacturer temporarily suspended shipment of the trucks after Greg’s August, 1988, accident and printed larger stickers warning parents that the packing rod should be discarded, said George Fink, Buddy L senior vice president.
“We did not feel that after shipping 750,000 of these units, with one complaint that we had a dangerous toy,” said Fink, explaining why the company didn’t recall the trucks already on the market to include the warning sticker.
“Toy safety has become a contradiction in terms,” according to the consumer group’s 135-page report that surveyed 51 toys.
Brown blamed the influx of more dangerous toys on the “powerlessness” of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has jurisdiction over toys, used to be just be a toothless tiger,” she said. “I’m afraid the tiger has now fallen over dead.”
Brown criticized the panel’s lack of a quorum of three commissioners since January. Early Saturday, the Senate confirmed Jacqueline Jones-Smith as the third commissioner and chairwoman of the panel.
“We will look into every product on that list . . . and make a determination as to whether any action is necessary,” said CPSC spokesman Dan Rumelt.
The report cites CPSC statistics that estimate there were 142,000 toy-related injuries in 1988, an increase of 11,000 over 1987. Nursery product-related injuries to children under 5 totaled 72,000 in 1988. The ADA report, which previously cited only toys, this year includes infant and children’s products.
RISKY TOYS
Here is the list of the Americans for Democratic Action Consumer Affairs Committee’s “baker’s dirty dozen” of what it considers potentially dangerous toys.
1. Pepsi-Cola/Coca-Cola Delivery Truck, Buddy L Corp., Clifton, N.J. 07012.
2. Whippersnappers, North Central, Muncie, Ind. 47302.
3. Bouncin’ Babies Cuddly Baby, Lewis Galoob Toys Inc., 500 Forbes Blvd., South San Francisco 94080.
4. Squeaky Ducky Toy, First Years Kiddie Products Inc., One Kiddie Drive, Avon, Mass. 02322.
5. First Toy Musical Pacifier, Regent Baby Products Corp., 43-21 52nd St., Woodside, N.Y. 11377.
6. Rubber Band Shooter Gun, sold by Play Co., a major California toy chain.
7. Pocket Power Rapid Fire Hand-Held Multi-Shot Target Gun, Tyco Industries, Mount Laurel, N.J. 08054.
8. Water Balloon Sling Shots, Aqua Sling, P.O. Box 20404, San Diego 92120.
9. Mickey’s Pillow Friends, Springs Industries, Performance Products Division, 295 5th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.
10. Doll No. PA 1506, ABC Toys.
11. Party Time Mickey, Arco Toys-a Mattel Co., Westbury, N.Y. 11590.
12. Disney Babies Crib & Playpen Toy No. 8721, and Sesame Street Crib & Playpen Toy, ILLCO Toy Co., New York, N.Y. 10010.
13. Sesame Street Ernie Bath Toy, Applause Inc., Woodland Hills 91367.
