HARRISBURG, Pa. - The 33rd annual Trouble in Toyland report is released ahead of the holiday season detailing popular, yet unsafe toys. Now Pennsylvania's Auditor General is calling for stronger efforts to keep unsafe toys off the shelves.
Slime, hatching toys, and smart toys are just a few of the toys mentioned in the 33rd annual Trouble in Toyland Toy Safety Report, done by U.S. Public Interest Research Groups.
"No one should worry about whether or not the toys they're buying are toxic or dangerous," said Reuben Mathew, PennPIRG. "But in 2018, we're still finding hazards in some of the most popular toys."
Forty toys were tested in this year's report, 15 found to have safety issues. For example, slime is one of the most popular toys at the moment but the study found some slime products geared toward kids have unsafe amounts of boron which can cause nausea and vomiting. While the U.S. has not set a limit for the chemical in children's products, Canada and the European Union have.
There are also noisy toys that made the list. While they may seem harmless, the study found it's audio levels were high enough to cause hearing damage in toddlers and children.
"There's so many other ways that families need to be spending their time other than worrying about the safety risk of toys that are actually on the shelves," said Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. He is calling for stronger efforts to keep unsafe toys off store shelves, especially ones that have been recalled.
"Policy makers and toy manufacturers and the stores need to join together on this common sense principal that if you're going to sell the product it should already be safe and if it's not don't make it available for purchase," said DePasquale. "If a toy is recalled get it off the shelves, if it's got poison... just anything else is corporate greed."
The full Trouble in Toyland report, along with toy safety tips can be found here.
