Hazardous Metals Found in Children Products – Levels of potentially hazardous heavy metals have been found in children’s toys, sparking concern and worry about the contents of many other toys.
Currently, the U.S. has no set standards on levels of these chemicals and metals in toys, which allows manufacturers to put in almost any materials they require, regardless of their health and safety issues.
Three products tested were found to have harmful heavy metals, a metal-and-rhinestone hair barrette, a clover-shaped cell phone charm and a vinyl children’s rain coat. The tests found these products to have levels of cadmium and lead. The screening test done to find this out was called X-ray fluorescence and outside laboratory analysis.
“We’re concerned it’s going to start showing up a lot in other products, such as children’s jewelery, or hair barrettes or other products,” said Don Mays, Consumer Reports’ senior director of product safety and technical policy. “The problem here is that young children in particular have a tendency to put jewelery in their mouth, a necklace, a little pendant, they have a tendency to suck on it.”
Following the news of this, a retailer that sold one of the products, the cell phone charm, did a product recall and took the product off their shelves.