How to protect your child from lead-contaminated toys
September 10, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
With the recent spat of children’s toys recalled left and right, parents of toddlers and young children are getting more and more worried and scared. Friends of ours got so worried about the recalls that the dad even bought a lead-paint detector and vowed never to buy any toy from China anymore. There is cause to be concerned because one never knows if one of these days, your child’s favorite toy will be part of that list of recalls.
What can we parents do to protect our children?
(That is, aside from joining a class action suit such as this one)
Baby Center listed 7 things you can do to keep your child safe from toy recalls:
1. Check the product number.
2. Take away recalled toys immediately.
3. Throw out any broken or worn-out magnetic toys.
4. Buy toys that are locally made.
5. Look around for other lead hazards.
6. Get your child tested for lead exposure.
7. Keep abreast of future recalls.
It helps that I get weekly news from Baby Center and other online parenting sites, so I’m abreast of the toys that may be a danger to my child. If you want a listing of all the toys that might be harmful, Baby Center has a product recall finder.
The government also has a recall site – http://www.recalls.gov/ that is also quite helpful.
Tags: toys, recall, mattel, china, lead-hazard, protection, safety
