Toxic Toys Discovered Inside Daycares
posted 9:18 am Thu February 28, 2008 - Arkansas
Toxic toys could be within your child's reach.
Potentially hazardous toys were found when Channel 7's Heather Crawford went into two area daycare centers.
We know lead paint is bad for children, but the toy we are focusing on is a plastic toy. And when it comes to lead in plastic--right now there are no safeguards the government has in place to protect children.
Daycares, like many homes, are full of toys. We randomly selected two--one in Little Rock, the other in North Little Rock. Both owners say they keep a close eye on recalled toys to make sure they don't have any. And both agreed to let us come in and test for lead.
(Nattaisha Edwards, Daycare Owner) "To me, lead is a big concern. And just walking down the aisle, it's like a recall on every other aisle. There's no way to know if a toy has a percentage of lead in it that could be hazardous to a child unless you have it tested."
Using a $30,000 analyzer gun, two experts with Innov-X Systems--a company headquartered in Massachusetts--went to work testing dozens of toys for us.
(Chris Kilmer, Innov-X Systems) "Based on my experience, I've seen about 5% of the toys that I've checked have lead presence in them. So it's something parents need to be concerned about."
We tested everything from plastic toys to wooden toys, and only found a few that were questionable.
(Kilmer) "This particular toy, the eyes on it have lead at about 209 PPM. That's not over the limit set by the government. I still wouldn't want my child putting that in his mouth and swallowing it."
Then we tested jewels on a child's cap.
(Kilmer) "This has quite a bit of lead in it. Something we never expected to find was lead on clothing. If you can see that right there, those little rhinestones are just loaded with lead, and those could be pulled over and swallowed by a child. We would have never thought to test those normally."
On our way out of the first daycare, our expert picked up a plastic playpen ball--and the result was shocking.
While the use of lead in plastics has not been banned, when it comes to paint, Congress has banned lead in excess of 600 parts-per-million. The playpen ball we tested has more than six times that amount in the plastic.
(Kilmer) "This just goes to show, you have to check everything. So we've got lead at 3833 parts-per-million, and a child should definitely not be exposed or playing with this plastic ball."
Was it just this one ball--or were there more in the play pits? We started testing ball after the ball. They all looked similar, but only one tested high for lead. Then we went to the second daycare. There wasn't a play pit--but we found plenty of the same playpen balls.
(Mark Robert, Innov-X Systems) "We're finding quite a few of these plastic balls have excessively high concentrations of lead. And it looks like this manufacturer has a problem with the plastic they use."
Currently, the regulations on lead content only apply to paint, not to plastics. But that has not stopped some experts from calling for the ban of lead in all children's products.
(Robert) "If a small child eats a plastic toy that has lead paint on it, it can interfere with his central nervous system and cause learning disabilities. And it's even been linked to autism, so it's a very serious problem."
All of the balls that tested high had the same manufacturer's stamp on them--Euro-Matic, Euro-Plus. So we contacted the company.
Initially the sales director for Euro-Matic agreed to come to Little Rock for an interview, but later backed out and told us the company's legal team advised against it.
In an e-mail, they wrote, "We have always used FDA-approved material, and without a receipt we cannot be--or can you be--objective of who produced these."
Euro-Matic says the balls we sent them are a size that has not been made for nine years in the United States.
And the company is convinced they are fakes, manufactured by someone else. "The Euro-Plus is our trademark, but over the years, we found imports marked the exact same" their e-mail said.
We tried to track down the stores where the balls were purchased from, but neither daycare had receipts and the stores they thought they came from all told us they don't sell the Euro-Matic playpen balls.
Next, we turned to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the C.P.S.C., and offered to let them test the Euro-Matic balls. They refused, and told Channel 7, "Over decades of inspecting toy balls, C.P.S.C. staff have not found that they pose a danger to children in terms of lead risk. But each year, we warn about the potentially deadly choking hazard that small balls can pose to children."
But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "When the plastic is exposed to substances such as sunlight, air and detergents, the chemical bond between the lead and plastics breaks down and forms a dust."
(Robert)"I think anytime you have that much lead in a product, kids licking those products rubbing them all over their bodies, I think you could find a lot of scientists and pediatricians saying that's not a good thing."
While not commenting specifically on lead in plastics, the Director of the Arkansas Poison Control Center says lead exposure can be dangerous.
(Dr. Howell, Director, AR Poison Control Center) "We're more worried about it in small children, and the reason is, even at the lower levels, we're beginning to see data that we have IQ loss because of it. It causes some nervous system damage, and this is something that isn't reversible if you have enough of it."
In light of those potential health hazards, Senator Mark Pryor says he thinks the Euro-Matic playpen balls need to be recalled.
(Mark Pryor (D) Arkansas) "To be honest with you, the CPSC has been somewhat in denial about this. They are just so overwhelmed right now. They've had their budget cuts; their lab is inadequate. In fact they are down to two commissioners. They can't even really function right now."
So for now the only resource daycare owners and parents have is a government recall list from an agency Senator Pryor says is not fully doing its job to protect consumers.
And even though the CPSC won't recall the balls, both daycare owners say they are taking it upon themselves to get them out of their facilities.
(Edwards) "I'm actually kind of shocked, because I try to research all of my toys. They didn't have any recall on them when I bought them. That's why I bought them."
(Pryor) "There's no doubt lead poses a risk to children, and one of the things about this story is that KATV should never be able to go out and find lead in daycare centers or on toy store shelves. It should never happen."
Senator Pryor is sponsoring legislation to overhaul the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It’s expected to be introduced on the floor next week. The bill has bipartisan support, and Pryor hopes to have it signed into law by the spring.
It would require third-party safety certification, ban lead in children's products, and create a database to arm the public with faster information when a potential problem arises.
© 2008 KATV, LLC
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.
Channel 7 News to leave comments on news stories.