Toying with kids' health

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published June 21, 2007

For the past two years, stores have sold a popular line of Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys that contained lead-based paint, posing a serious health and developmental risk to children. Who should be held responsible? RC2 Corp., the American company that just got around to recalling 1.5-million of the toys? The Chinese toy factory that used lead-based paint in violation of U.S. law? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has proved to be a timid regulator? We'll go with all of the above.

RC2, which has licensing agreements with the likes of Disney and Nickelodeon, won't say when it first learned of the lead-paint threat. But the toymaker will have a hard time arguing it didn't know what was going on. Some 90 percent of its toys come from China, where RC2 maintains offices. Another of the company's products, Lamaze toys for toddlers, was recalled in 2003 because of lead paint.

Toy manufacturers and retailers should be held responsible for the safety of their products. Unfortunately, under federal law, pretesting of toys isn't mandatory and civil penalties for violations are minor. Too often, quality control comes in the form of a recall, which is often ineffective in getting products out of children's hands.

Then there is China. Add toys to a long list of recalled products containing toxic ingredients - from dog food to toothpaste. Chinese officials appear unwilling or unable to clean up their act. Typical was the response to journalists who showed up at the factory making the recalled train sets; plant officials illegally detained them for more than nine hours, the New York Times reported.

The lack of accountability in China's regulatory system will be difficult to solve. American retailers have grown dependent on Chinese goods, especially the toy industry, which gets up to 80 percent of its toys from China. Yet there is reason for real concern. Children are particularly vulnerable to product defects, and of the 24 toys recalled for safety reasons this year, all were made in China.

When the Consumer Product Safety Commission is the last line of defense, you know you're in trouble. As the threat from China's products grows, the Bush administration has inexplicably recommended cuts to the safety agency's budget and staff. Now, Consumers Union senior counsel Janell Mayo Duncan warned Congress, such neglect has "resulted in the 'brain drain' of too many of the most experienced and knowledgeable staff at the commission."

Congress needs to hold hearings on this latest dilemma. It should issue stern warnings to China, require mandatory testing of children's products before they're put on the shelf and beef up penalties for violators. In the meantime, buyer beware.

[Last modified June 20, 2007, 22:05:37]