CLAWS & EFFECT
Safety group lists 10 worst toys for holidays
BOSTON — A Black Panther “slash claw” and a plastic Power Rangers sword are among the items topping a consumer safety group’s annual list of worst toys for the holiday season.
Massachusetts-based World Against Toys Causing Harm, or W.A.T.C.H., unveiled its 46th annual list of the 10 “worst toys” this week at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Joan Siff, the nonprofit organization’s president, said many of the toys on the list represent choking, eye and other safety hazards that surface year after year, despite the group’s efforts.
Siff advised parents to shop “defensively” and not be lulled into a false sense of security because a toy is made by a familiar brand or sold at an established retailer. One child is treated in a U.S. emergency room every three minutes for a toy-related injury, according to the Center for Injury and Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
A Cabbage Patch Kids ballerina doll that made this year’s list, for example, is marketed to children ages 2 and above, but includes a removable tutu and headband that can be choking hazards, said James Swartz, a trial lawyer who serves as W.A.T.C.H.’s director.
A slender mallet that comes with VTech’s caterpillar-shaped electronic xylophone — a toy made for children as young as 18 months old — is another similar choking threat, he said.
Other toys on the list included a Nerf gun that fires soft discs, a “stomp rocket” that launches foam-tipped projectiles up to 200 feet in the air and a plastic “cutting fruit” set. The cutting set, which includes a toy knife made out of rigid plastic, is made for children who are older than 2.
But the Toy Association, an industry trade group, complained the list is biased, inaccurate and “needlessly frightening” to parents.