Dangerous toys to avoid this holiday

With Thanksgiving week marking the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, a national consumer group is warning parents to steer clear of certain toys.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group this week released its annual “Trouble in Toyland” report, listing toys that aren’t safe for a variety of reasons.

This year, the group surveyed 40 toys and found 15 with problems, including the expected — those with small parts that are deemed choking hazards — and also some new concerns, such as popular slime toys that have high concentrations of the chemical boron.

Locally, the report was unveiled at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford by members of the consumer group ConnPIRG and medical professionals, including Dr. Steven C. Rogers, pediatric emergency physician at Connecticut Children’s.

“The good news here is that this is really a drilldown to what’s wrong with toys,” Rogers said in a phone interview. “I think it’s really good info for us have. And it sends a simple message to parents to be careful about what they pick.”

Shawna Upton, a campaign associate with ConnPIRG, echoed those comments.

“I think the biggest thing is that no one should have to worry about whether a toy is toxic or dangerous,” she said.

The report found six different slime toys that contained high levels of boron, which can be hazardous if ingested.

Products that contain small doses of the chemical — less than 3.68

parts per million — aren’t considered harmful. But high doses of the compound can cause nausea and vomiting and have long-term effects.

Some of the toys spotlighted by Trouble in Toyland include Kangaroos Original Super Cool Slime, sold on Amazon, which contains roughly 4,700 parts per million of boron.

Other toys spotlighted in the report include Hatchimals Fabula Forest, and a bundle of LOL Surprise! Pearl Surprise Turquoise and Purple Styles, all of which have small parts that are a choking hazard for young children, as well as several varieties of balloons, also seen as choking hazards.

Between 2001 and 2016, there were 290 toy-related deaths in children younger than 15, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Deaths have gone down, from 25 in 2001 to seven in 2016, amid increased consumer protections. In the wake of the report, the Toy Association, a trade association for the toy industry, issued its own statement, defending its products.

“What PIRG doesn’t tell you (because it would not grab headlines) is that toys are among the safest consumer product categories found in the home,” the statement said. “U.S. toy safety requirements are among the strictest in the world, with more than 100+ standards and tests in place to ensure that all toys found on store shelves are safe. All toys sold in the U.S., regardless of where they are produced, must be tested and certified compliant before reaching store shelves or consumers.”

In a separate statement, the trade association also criticized the PIRG’s measurement of boron in slime products. “PIRG has clearly measured boron in a way that is inconsistent with the very regulations they reference, making their results misleading and irrelevant,” the statement read. “Since boron compounds vary in their absorption if swallowed, a migration test simulating the human stomach is the correct method, and widely accepted.”

Upton said she wasn’t familiar with how boron was measured in the report, and that items were “sent to a separate lab that we don’t control.”

She also stood by the idea that boron levels are something to be aware of. “Boron is a serious risk for some children,” she said.