Lead Paint Toy Recall Redux - Goodwill Bans Toys

Last Sunday I took a trunk load of my used maternity clothes, children’s clothing and children’s toys to our local Goodwill drop off center. I had weeded our playroom the week before and amassed a reasonable offering of blocks, shape sorters, toy phones, pull trains and even an old Pooh and Friends See ‘n Say. Goodwill was happy to take the clothes off my hands but not the toys. The reason: Safety concerns. Yep, the lead-tainted toy scare from China has trickled down to Goodwill. The nice man loading my bags into a big blue crate informed me that they’ve long refused car seats and cribs for safety reasons, now the policy applies to toys, as well. Too many recent recalls. Too bad.

I understand the logic for Goodwill’s policy and am saddened that corruption along the Chinese supply chain will prevent their customers from finding inexpensive, gently-used toys in their stores. I’m also disappointed in the lack of foresight and funding for adequate regulations on US imports. But the biggest lack of oversight right now goes to the toy manufacturers who didn’t test their products. Mattel has recalled over 10 million (10 million!) toys since July.

(To see if any of the toys in your house are on this list, visit http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp. Make sure to click on the Fisher-Price link to a long list of toys that you may very well have. I found our little Elmo sprinkler on this list.)

At least Mattel has now asserted that it will test all toys in the future. This is something our local Melissa and Doug toy company has been doing for years. In fact, a source tells me they were accused of “over-testing” a few years ago because they not only tested every product prior to sale, but also conducted surprise visits to their Chinese factories. Turns out their prudence paid off. More worrisome now are the no name brands who don’t bother to test at all. The same source recently recalled meeting a woman who planned to start an Internet toy company with a Chinese manufacturer she’d never met. When shopping, we need to decide whether a supplier who might not be as familiar with their Chinese partners can be trusted to keep lead paint out of their toys.

In the end, it’s left to us parents to police our children’s toys for safety. How much danger are our kids in? The answer from my research is….Less than leaded house paint; more than toys that don’t contain any lead paint. Yes, it’s still worse to remodel a house built before 1978 (when lead paint was outlawed in the US) than to let your toddler run through an Elmo sprinkler. The real danger, according to an article on MSNBC.COM is that “Tiny leaded dust particles get on children's hands and feet, and the kids ingest then by sucking on their fingers.” And the ensuing disabilities can be irreversible. So, you probably want to ditch those red Thomas the Tank Engine cars your toddler’s been chewing on. And to be safe, all other recalled toys. Especially those with tiny magnets.

In the end, I've trained my kids and myself that it's easy to pick up that little Dora doll or Toys R Us trinket because it costs so little. They and I are used to easy entertainment and distraction. Unfortunately, now there's a lingering worry attached to our fun. Maybe this helps the pendulum swing a little away from mass consumption and back to basics. Try:

• Homemade play doh (equal parts flour and salt with a little water colored with food coloring)
• Real or pretend cooking
• Dancing, singing and beating on a drum made of a few coffee beans in an empty coffee tin
• Telling a story

If you received this message by email, make sure to take the poll about how many recalls you've returned!