The season when children receive most toys and gifts is fast approaching. Many young people receive gifts for Halloween or for winter holidays. Unfortunately, when new toys are brought into the home, this can result in the potential for one of those toys or products to be defective and dangerous. Parents need to understand the risks that defective toys can present and should regularly refer to the Consumer Product Safety Commission website to learn about toy recalls.
An experienced personal injury lawyer knows that it is best to remove defective products before they come onto the market and cause injury or death to a child. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has stepped up efforts in recent years to try to reduce the number of defective toys that reach the market. While CPSC programs have been effective at lessening the danger, some high-risk products may still be sold in Johnson City, Knoxville and surrounding areas in East Tennessee and may later need to be removed from the shelves (and from children’s homes) after the problems with the toys are discovered.
CPSC Working to Prevent Toy-Related Injuries and Fatalities
The CPSC has a comprehensive toy safety system in place that is designed to keep defective toys off of store shelves and away from children. As part of this system, all toys that are sold in the United States must be tested by independent third party laboratories no matter where in the world these toys are produced. Approved independent labs exist worldwide that can provide the necessary testing before toys come to the United States.
The labs test for a variety of different potential problems and risk-factors that could have an adverse impact on a child’s health. For example, there are limits on the amount of phthalates and on the amount of lead that can be present in toys sold to children in the U.S. and no toys may be sold if the labs find levels of these toxins above permissible amounts.
If toys reach the United States that have not been tested and demonstrated to meet rigorous safety standards, U.S. Customs is supposed to catch the shipment and stop the toys from coming to port and being sold. In the past five years, U.S. Customs and the CPSC have jointly worked to stop more than 9.8 million units to come into the country. These units contained around 3,000 different dangerous toys.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of safety regulators, dangers toys have still made it to the shelves and been sold. In 2008, there were a total of 172 toy recalls. Nineteen of the toys that were removed from the market were found to have excessive lead In 2013, there were a total of 31 toy recalls. There were also 19 fatalities from defective toys in 2010, as well as 17 deaths in 2011 and at least 11 fatalities in 2012 (the data is not fully compiled yet for this year).
Parents need to be aware that toy safety efforts are not perfect and that there are still many dangerous products sold. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website provides updated information on recalls and parents should check this site to determine if their children’s toys have been found to be defective.
A Knoxville accident lawyer can help collision victims. Contact G. Turner Howard III, Attorney at Law at (844) G3-Help-Me or 865-558-8030.
