Lead can be found in paint on wooden or plastic toys. It was banned in household paint and other products in the United States in 1978. However, it is still widely used in other countries and can still be found in toys from other countries. While there is no complete ban in the United States on lead in toys, it is illegal for paint to contain a concentration of lead greater than 0.06 percent, and with good reason. When ingested, lead can cause nerve damage, learning and behavioral problems, reproductive damage, and irreversible brain damage.
It can also increase the risk of cancer. While many dangerous toys have been recalled, lead has been found in some that are not on any recall list. Here's what you need to know. Toys made in China, where more than 80% of the world's toys are manufactured, have been found to contain high levels of phthalates and lead.
When Eleilia Preston gave birth to her first child, the last thing she was worried about was lead in toys. Because phthalates harm a person due to total exposure from many sources, it's difficult to measure the damage that certain PVC toys can cause. If you notice that a clear plastic bottle or cup has worn out, or that the transparent plastic in a toy has become cloudy, that may indicate that bisphenol A gases are being released. It is also likely that that level is “diluted” because the paint was applied to a wooden substrate (so the XRF instrument measures a level that includes the wood below).
The vast majority of these toys were made in China, which manufactures 80% of the toys sold in this country. If you've already bought some nostalgic retro toys at a thrift store or garage sale or you've let your baby try the bunch of toys your parents kept from their childhood, store them until your baby is old enough to play without talking. Therefore, there is a body of knowledge in which (hopefully) first-time parents know that they are wary of antique or vintage painted wooden toys. When a manufacturer recalls a toy from the market, it can contact customers who bought it online or prevent shoppers from buying toys that are still on store shelves.
Natural Baby Mama created this incredible overview of the toy manufacturers she loves and includes incredibly helpful information and advice on how to select chemical-free toys that meet their high safety standards. In addition, see the age classification that appears in the box, since it refers to the safe age for children to play with the toy (which may have small parts that are easily swallowed), not their intellectual preparation. Regardless of what is legally allowed in the U.S. In the U.S., toys made in China or other developing countries carry a greater risk of containing illegal chemicals than toys made in the U.S.
USA, Canada or the European Union (EU), because hazardous chemicals are less regulated in these countries. Over the past 14 months, the CPSC oversaw 31.7 million voluntary recalls, of which nearly 4 million were due to excess lead in toys. While Rosen is hesitant to quantify the possible dangers of exposure to lead in toys, he believes that even a month of manual activity with a leaded toy is enough to increase lead levels in the blood. This is not a cause for concern for older children who play with modern painted toys, when those toys are used as intended.
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