State lawmakers call for stricter toy safety regulations

Millions of toys have been recalled in the past year because they contain lead, but that doesn't mean your child's toy box is safe yet.

"The average consumer assumes that if there's something on the shelf, that somebody has tested to make sure it's safe," said state Sen. Debbie Regala, "and that's really not accurate."

Regala, a Tacoma Democrat, is one of a handful of state lawmakers signed on to a bill in Olympia that would ban such harmful substances as lead, cadmium and phthalates from children's products. It also would require companies to disclose what chemicals their products contain. A House of Representatives committee will hold a hearing on the bill Wednesday.

While lead in paint is illegal, it's commonly used as a stabilizer in plastics and an additive to metals. Cadmium and phthalates, known to cause cancer and birth defects, also are used in many plastics without regulation.

"Although we have something called the Consumer Product Safety Commission, federal action is nonexistent, and they don't actually have legal authority to make sure that products are safe," Regala said.

The federal commission has received harsh criticism because of the high number of toy recalls. Critics say the agency doesn't have strict enough rules and fails to enforce the ones it has.

Ivy Sager-Rosenthal with the Washington Toxics Coalition, a nonprofit organization that has tested hundreds of toys to build a "safe toys" database, said the amount of lead in some toys is shocking. A plastic slinky the group tested, for example, contained 1.5 percent lead.

"A lot of plastic toys have lead used as a stabilizer in the plastic," Sager-Rosenthal said.

Although no amount of lead is safe, lead in paint is limited to 600 parts per million, said Steve Gilbert, a lead expert, director of the Institute for Neurotoxicology and an associate professor at the University of Washington.

"It doesn't take much for a 1-, 2- or 3-year-old. A small exposure is a big dose," Gilbert said, adding that many of the health effects are irreversible.

Sager-Rosenthal said that while a number of toys they tested contained harmful chemicals, she was surprised to find how many — including toys from China — did not. "This shows that it is possible to make toys free of dangerous chemicals and that it isn't just a China problem," she said.

In addition to banning chemicals and requiring disclosure, the bill would give the state Department of Ecology authority to build on the list of banned substances.

Supporters say Washington's bill would be an important first step in ensuring children's safety. If the bill passes, Washington would be the second state, behind California, to ban toxic substances from children's products. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law in October that will ban six types of phthalates beginning in 2009.