Toys are supposed to bring joy into children's lives, to educate and at the same time entertain them. But the researches, carried out in Boston on Tuesday on the part of World Against Toys Causing Harm corporation, brought forward distressing results.
It is expected that Consumer Products Safety Commission is responsible for providing American families with safe and qualified products. This is the general idea, expressed by toysafety.net. But it turns out that because of the lack of proper funding and corresponding authorities, defective and even dangerous products appear in the shops all round US, thus putting at stake the health and well-being of the people.
The thing is that because many people don't even make attempts to sue companies which become the cause of their health troubles, the latters are not concerned with testing and inspection of their production.
Thus, with the purpose of educating the society and bringing up people in accordance with ‘responsible consumers in a consumer-oriented society’ slogan, a charitable non-profit corporation World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.) was founded in Massachusetts by Edward M. Swartz, who is a nationally known trial lawyer and child safety consumer advocate.
Since 1973 W.A.T.C.H. carries out the annual "10 Worst Toys" testing, which reveals potentially dangerous and harmful toys. Thanks to the efforts and the positive response from both the media and the public, there have been many changes in toy and product design.
As to Dow Jones's report from Newswires, it turns out that Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the U.S. safety commission, negatively referred to WATCH's claims, and said that the figure of a 50% rise in the number of recalled toys this year can't inspire the toy producers.
"Toys that are for sale right now have gone through more investigation and more scrutiny than any year past," Vallese said.
Besides, she added that very often parents are to blame for the accidents with their children because they don't pay proper attention to the toys to their particles. She says that it is simply impossible to inspect each and every toy and observe it from the point of view of a potential danger.
But there is no way to connive at the fact that many toy producers these days design toys which are not only dangerous from the point of view of their usage, but they are made of hazardous materials and are coated with toxic paint. And in this case it is no use laying the blame on the parents if something happens to their children.
It is a commonly spread tactics to blame China for all the bad quality products which are exported to the whole world. But this time it is The US Mattel to be responsible for all the harmful effects their toys produce.
Thus, according to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. report, the 10 toys on the 2007 WATCH list and the companies that make them are:
- Go Diego Go Animal Rescue boat, by Fisher Price. Contains lead paint.
- Sticky Stones, GeoCentral. Magnetized stones that, if swallowed, could " stick together across the intestines, causing serious infections and death."
- Jack Sparrow's Spinning Dagger, Zizzle. Viewed as eye hazard.
- Dora The Explorer Lamp, Funhouse. Potential for electric shocks and burns.
- Lil "Giddy Up" Horse - Sassy Pet Saks, Douglas. Contains fibers and small parts that could be a choking hazard.
- Spider Man 3 New Goblin Sword, Hasbro Inc. (HAS). Rigid plastic could cause injuries.
- Hip Hoppa, by Spin Master Ltd. and Vivid Imaginations, Ltd. A combination footboard and bouncing ball that children jump on has the potential for head and other injuries.
- B'Loonies Party Park, Ja-Ru, Inc. Children blow balloon-like toy out of substance squeezed from tube. Has potential for chemical ingestion.
- My Little Baby Born, Entertainment, Inc.; Zapf Creations AG (ZPF.XE). Baby doll comes attached to tiny pacifier that could be swallowed.
- Rubber Band Shooter, Simple Toys LLC. Shoots rubber bands and presents eye hazard.
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