HealthyToys.org — Findings

HealthyToys.org tested over 1,200 children's products and more than 3,000 components of those products. Currently, the U.S. government and U.S. toy manufacturers are not providing this data to consumers. Our testing is not necessarily representative of all of the toys on the market. In addition, the presence of a chemical in a product does not necessarily mean there is exposure. Our sampling was conducted by non-profit citizen advocacy and environmental health organizations. HealthyToys.org found:

Lead in products is widespread:

Lead is used in a significant percentage of children's toys: Lead was detected in 35% of the 1,268 products we tested. Lead was detected in 38% of the jewelry samples (504 total) tested. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended a level of 40 parts per million (ppm) of lead as the maximum that should be allowed in children's products. 17% of products tested at levels above the 600 ppm. The federal recall standard used for lead paint is 600 ppm! Jewelry had the most lead. 33.5% of the jewelry had levels above 600 ppm (the lead paint recall number). HealthyToys.org has sent a notice to the Consumer Product Safety Commission with this information.

Very high levels of lead were found in a number of products*: Our testing detected more than 6,700 ppm in animal figurines, 3,056 ppm in a Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game pack, and 1,700 ppm lead in baby shoes.

My Pasture Play Set: Monkey

6,733 ppm

Hannah Montana pop star card game pack

3,056 ppm

Bath squirt toy from Target

1,487 ppm

Circo shoes from Target

5,197 ppm

Tyrell Katz vinyl backpack

7,132 ppm

Its not just lead:

Other dangerous chemicals were found in toys. Of those toys tested for other chemicals, we found cadmium at levels greater than 100 ppm in 2.9% of products or 22 of 764 total products tested for cadmium . Arsenic was detected at levels greater than 100 ppm in 2.2% of products or 17 of 764 total products tested for arsenic. Mercury was found above 100 ppm in .7% of products or five toys of 764 tested. See photos of products with elevated levels of these chemicals.

Many plastic toys are made of PVC:

Many children's products are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. HealthyToys.org determined products were PVC by measuring their chlorine content. 47% of non-jewelry products tested were PVC. PVC is the worst plastic from an environmental health perspective because it creates major hazards in its manufacture, product life and disposal and contains additives that are dangerous to human health. PVC plastic without additives is a very brittle plastic. In order to make it flexible and to give it other properties, additional chemicals must be added. Phthalates are very commonly added to PVC to make it soft and flexible, however, they can leach out of the plastic. Phthalates have been implicated in some health problems in laboratory tests. Lead, cadmium and other heavy metals are also commonly added to PVC products.

Safe Toys are Possible!

Some manufacturers are already doing it: Many of the products tested did not contain any lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury or PVC, including many made in China. These results show that manufacturers can make toys free of unnecessary toxic chemicals.

To download photos of some of the toys with high and low contaminant levels, see the HeathyToys.org Media Resources

NOTE: HealthyToys.org is an initial screening of chemicals in toys for a handful of hazardous chemicals. There are a number of chemicals of concern that the XRF device and HealthyToys.org cannot detect. For example, there has been much concern recently about bisphenol A, a component of polycarbonate plastic. The XRF device is not able to detect bisphenol A, nor can it identify polycarbonate. In addition, the XRF device cannot detect phthalates, a family of chemicals of concern, although we have used the presence of PVC plastic as a surrogate for the likely presence of phthalates.

HealthyToys.org ratings do not provide a measure of health risk or chemical exposure associated with any individual toy or children's product, or any individual element or related chemical. HealthyToys.org ratings only provide a relative measure of high, medium, and low concentrations of several hazardous chemicals or chemical elements in a toy or children's product in comparison to criteria established in the site methodology.