Dangerous toy list is must reading

At the rate contaminated toys are making it into the country, we may get to the point of having to declare children's toy chests hazardous waste dumps.

Yet another potentially dangerous toy has been recalled. This time, 4.2 million Aqua Dots. The bead set contains a toxic chemical that, when ingested, takes on the characteristics of the so-called date rape drug. When this happens, children can lose consciousness, suffer seizures, lapse into comas, and even die.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission was alerted to this danger after an Arkansas toddler became ill and passed out after swallowing part of the bead set, according to the Associated Press.

The Illinois Attorney General's office, the Illinois Principals Association and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association have joined forces to make sure parents, schools and retailers are aware of the problem with Aqua Dots so they can remove them from their homes, classrooms and store shelves.

Which leads us to think of the thousands of toys scattered about in elementary schools, preschools, day care centers, churches, doctor and dentist waiting rooms, and other places. Hopefully these toys are being routinely checked against recall lists to see if any are dangerous, and thus removed from the stock. A list of such can be found at the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site, www.cpsc.gov.

The Web site also gives instructions on how to sign up for recall notices via e-mail. The Illinois Attorney General's office also has a recall hotline, (888) 414-7678.

Checking on the safety of toys parents have bought or want to buy for their children or that are used in classrooms can be tedious -- and unnerving. In October alone, 24 toys made the list of Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls, with most of them found to be at risk of exposing children to lead poisoning.

But it's a routine that is becoming almost as necessary as making sure the children have washed up and brushed their teeth before walking out the door for school.

It is particularly important to do such self-checking given the holes in a consumer product safety net that is supposed to snare dangerous toys before they cross our shores. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is barely functioning because of stagnant funding and staff cuts. Product inspection improvements are awaiting emergence of political leadership on this issue.

It is also clear that some toy manufacturers and those who buy toys for resale from overseas need to do a much better job of doing safety checks before putting toys on store shelves, as well as demanding they be built to the highest safety specifications.

But until there is higher level of confidence that toys are not toxic, those consumer product safety recall lists are must reading -- especially with another holiday shopping season right around the corner.