Christmas Toys for Needy Tested for Contamination

About 100,000 Christmas toys destined for needy children remained locked inside an El Toro warehouse Thursday while the Navy conducted tests to determine whether they are radioactive or sprinkled with asbestos.

The gifts, left over from last year’s toy drives by a coalition of community groups, were supposed to be given to underprivileged children this holiday season.

But the possible contamination could prevent their distribution in time for Christmas, officials said. That has led to finger pointing by officials from Orange County, which owns the closed El Toro Marine base; the Navy, which gave the post to the county; and toy drive groups.

Orange County and Navy officials said they did not learn about the possible contamination until Aug. 29, when Rob Richardson, the county’s El Toro program director, said he read a Navy environmental report about the base. Richardson said Building 360, where the toys are stored, was identified in the report as possibly contaminated.