MichiganRadio

Toxic Toys ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

Toxic chemicals in toys generated a lot of discussion during the holidays. But even with the major toy buying season over, parents still need to be careful about the safety of the toys they buy. The Ecology Center held a free toy testing event last night in Grosse Pointe Park.

At Trombly Elementary School in Grosse Point Park, Claudia Boyd-Barrett spoke with Rebecca Meuninck from the Ecology Center. She brought 3 toys: a Barbie doll, a rubber dinosaur, and a Disney Princess plastic cell phone. So, what chemicals are in these toys? Meuninck examines the toys using something that looks like a 'space gun'

"It's called an XRF, and it uses xray technology to tell us what chemicals are in the toys you brought here to be tested today. So we can see hazardous chemicals like lead, mercury and arsenic or cadmium which has been in the news a lot lately, and I can tell you in 30 seconds if they're in these toys" says Meuninck.

The test results show the dinosaur has very high levels of bromine which could mean it has brominated flame retardant in it. That's been linked to problems with brain development and birth defects.

The dinosaur and the cell phone both have lead in them, but they still meet safety standards for lead.

"I have to say, even though these are below the recommended level, I'm still a little bit surprised that they have any chemicals in them at all. I mean, should I be concerned?" says Boyd-Barrett.

"That's a terrific questions, and it's a hard one to talk to parents about because different chemicals have different properties. Certain chemicals are better bonded, it depends on the age of the child. But our stance is really that there's no reason for these chemicals to be in children's products. Folks shouldn't have to worry about this..." says Meuninck.

Meuninck says she finds a whole host of dangerous chemicals when she tests toys. And many exceed the safety limit.

State representative Ted Bledsoe is also at the toy testing event.

"Toys are played with by children, surely they're being regulated for chemicals already by the government?" asks Boyd-Barrett.

"Well actually they're not well regulated by the government," says Bledsoe, "Most of these toys are being imported from abroad, many of them are from China and the standards for the manufacture of toys in many of these other countries are not up to American standards, although even some of the toys produced in the United States and Canada have unacceptable levels of these dangerous substances."

In fact, lead is better regulated now than in the past. The federal government recently tightened limits on lead in toys. But Meuninck says increasingly that lead is being replaced by cadmium. Cadmium is a known carcinogen and can cause kidney damage and other problems.

I'm definitely not the only parent concerned about all this. Amal Awad Jumah brought six bags of toys to the event to be tested.

One of them was a leapfrog play table which tested high for lead. She threw it in the garbage.

"To tell you the truth I'm gonna cut back on the buying toys until I hear some good news, something definite about this whole lead issue," says Jumah. "I don't want to buy anymore toys to be quite honest with you. It's...it's scary."

A package of bills pending in the Michigan Legislature goes some way to addressing concerns about toxic toys. It would make toy manufacturers put information about toxic chemicals found in their products into a public database.

Still, the onus would still be on parents to find out for themselves which toys are toxic. That means we could all be reading a lot more about things like cadmium, PVCs and bromine in toys for years to come. © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio