The bill passed by congress last week limiting lead and phthalates in children’s products is encouraging, but far from a complete solution needed for toy safety.  We are thrilled to see the efforts made by the House and Senate but know that it will be years until the benefits are fully realized.Here’s what we like about the bill:

•  Lead will not be allowed in any part of children’s products unlike the current rule which only affects surface paint.
• The amount of lead allowed in children’s products will be lowered to 100 parts per million.
• Phthalates will be banned for the first time.
• Testing will be mandatory on all toys and children’s products

Weaknesses of the bill:

• It’s going to take a while before the new regulations are enforceable.
• A database will be created with toys that have safety problems, but nothing will be done to showcase the products that truly are safe.

At No Strings Attached Toys, we have been pursuing stricter safety standards since last year when we opened.  From the beginning we have made a strong effort to ensure that the products we sell are lead free by thoroughly researching the manufacturers we do business with and by becoming the first known retailer to test toys for lead in its complete inventory.  We have tested thousands of toys for lead in our store and at other stores, schools and homes.  We began a database at the beginning of the year showing lead testing results alongside toys that have been recalled because of lead content. Today we are announcing our commitment to update that database at http://unleadedtoylist.com with 2500 toy test results by November of this year.  The database will highlight toys that are lead and phthalate free based on tests conducted by us, manufacturers, and other reputable third party sources.  This database will be more useful than the one offered by the federal government that will only list safety issues and violations which will only be added after incidents occur. Our next goal is to see that toys at schools and daycares across the country are tested for lead so that children will no longer be exposed to leaded toys and educational products in the classroom.  Many products that have been developed for schools have been recalled and are likely still in use at schools today.  We would propose that grants should be available to have testing done to further the efforts to eliminate poisonous toys.