Personal Injury Lawyers > Personal Injury Blog > Products Liability > CPSC Chairwoman Ensures Americans about Toy Safety as Holiday Season Begins

Personal Injury Blog

CPSC Chairwoman Ensures Americans about Toy Safety as Holiday Season Begins

The 2009 holiday season is here, and parents around the country are going to begin shopping for gifts for their children. Buying toys that are safe for children can be a challenge, especially in these times of high lead content, phthalate contamination, and other hazards.

How worried should parents be?

Not at all, says the chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Inez Tenenbaum says that recalls this year have been down compared to 2007 and 2008. According to Tenenbaum who has been deeply involved with making sure that defective toys are off the market. The  lowered number of recalls has been attributed to the new safety laws that have set higher standards for lead content in toys. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act which was passed by Congress last year, has lowered the minimum amount of lead content determined to be safe.

The new laws apply to a wide range of children’s products, including toys, accessories, clothing, child gear etc. The law which was signed on August 14^th last year increased the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s financial resources and set stricter standards for testing and documentation. Under the new laws, manufacturers of clothes, toys, bedding, furnishings, accessories, books, electronics, educational materials, and videogames must meet the new safety standards, or risk penalties or even jail time.

The CPSIA increased the CPSC budget to $136 million. Staffing resources were also increased to at least 500 personnel to be implemented by 2013. The new rules reduce the amount of lead content in children’s products to

• 600PPM by February 2009
• 300 PPM by August 2009
• 100 PPM by August 2011

The CPSC also makes it illegal for persons to manufacture, distribute or import children’s products that contain phthalates at higher than .1 percent levels.  The Act also provides whistleblower protection to protect employees, who report to the authorities when they see violations committed by their employer.

However, according to the consumer safety group WATCH, dangerous toys still continue to pour into the market. According to representatives of the group, in 2009, there were 31 recalls in which more than 4 ½ million toys were pulled from the market. According to Tenenbaum however, Chinese manufacturers have been taking toy safety seriously since 2007, when millions of Chinese-made toys had to be recalled after high lead content was found in them. California product liability lawyers will be waiting to see how Chinese manufacturers better the quality and safety of their products, after the toy disasters of the past two years.

Tenenbaum is asking parents to buy toys confidently this year. When parents are shopping for toys, they can do so in the knowledge that there are currently laws in place, protecting their children. However, Tenenbaum is also cautioning to parents to use their good judgment when they buy toys for their children. Always buy age-appropriate toys. For instance, toys that have removable parts that can pose a choking hazard are not recommended for kids between the age of 3 and 5. Parents must avoid such toys for children of this age group.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of product liability. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

---