Toy Makers Seek Standards for U.S. Safety

[Isolder74]

Toy Makers Seek Standards for U.S. Safety
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By ERIC LIPTON and LOUISE STORY
Published: September 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — Acknowledging a growing crisis of public confidence caused by a series of recent recalls, the nation’s largest toy makers have taken the unusual step of asking the federal government to impose mandatory safety-testing standards for all toys sold in the United States.

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Times Topics: Consumer Product Safety
Toy importers and retailers are already scrambling to recheck their vast inventory of merchandise to ensure that products already on the market are not contaminated with lead or have other safety flaws.

Facing broadening questions about the safety of toys sold in the United States — particularly those made in China — as the holiday season approaches, the industry is asking that these kinds of tests be required of toy companies, big and small.

“There is enormous pain in the industry that has been generated by the lead-in-paint recalls,” said Frederick B. Locker, a lawyer for the Toy Industry Association, whose members include Mattel, Hasbro, Lego and hundreds of other manufacturers and importers. “Nothing is 100 percent. But this will tighten it, enhance it, bolster it.”

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who recently co-sponsored legislation that would impose such testing requirements on all children’s products, said he welcomed the request.

“What a dramatic turn,” he said in an interview Thursday, adding, “These news stories have really shaken the confidence of American families in toys.”

The proposal, which was approved by the board of the Toy Industry Association at a private meeting last week, does not envision a broad federal inspection program.

Instead, companies would be required to hire independent laboratories to check a certain portion of their toys, whether made in the United States or overseas. Leading toy companies already do such testing, but industry officials acknowledge that it has not been enough.

To address these shortcomings, the proposal calls for uniform standards for frequency of testing, to determine at what point during production the tests would be conducted, and what specific hazards, whether lead paint or small parts, must be checked for.

The uniform standard would also establish global requirements for laboratories that do this testing.

Mr. Locker said the standards would give major toy importers a more reliable system, making it more likely that they would catch flawed products before they arrived in toy stores. Small companies that currently do little or no testing would be required to pay for testing as well.

Europeans already require that toys and certain other products undergo such testing, and they affix a certification mark to products before they are sold. The United States has no such premarket testing requirement.

Industry executives also acknowledged in interviews Thursday that part of the goal was to reassure the American consumer after a summer of toy recalls.

“The industry was feeling pretty good about itself that we were doing all the right things, and then this stuff hit,” said Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association.

The string of embarrassing news started in June with the recall of Thomas & Friends trains for lead paint, and has been followed by three separate recalls from Mattel covering Barbie, Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer toys, all made in China.

“If the consumer is aware that the government has some responsibility and is holding companies responsible, it will set their minds at ease as to the products they are buying off the shelves,” said Jeff Holtzman, chief executive of the Goldberger Company, a toy maker.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which would ultimately help enforce the mandate, has not yet taken a position on the proposal. The agency itself has extremely limited capacity to test toys; it employs only one full-time toy tester at its laboratory in Maryland.

But a spokeswoman, Julie Vallese, said the commission supported the expansion of third-party testing by independent laboratories.

Donald L. Mays, senior director of product safety planning at Consumer Reports, said that if the proposal was going to be effective, the government would also have to ensure that the tests were being done often enough, and spot-check products coming into the country to make sure that they were safe.

That would require more staff members at the commission, which during the Bush administration has been cut by more than 10 percent, to 420 employees. Toys that are tested, he said, should have a safety certification mark on them, like the Underwriters Laboratories seal for electrical products.

The Toy Industry Association has asked the American National Standards Institute to help develop the new specifications. Lane Hallenbeck, the standards institute executive leading the effort, said he hoped to have a proposal ready by year’s end.

Turning this proposal into a federal mandate would require action by Congress or the safety commission and would represent somewhat of a reversal for the commission. In the early years of the Bush administration, it opposed some additional mandates, including a ban on the sale of adult-size all-terrain vehicles for use by children and a requirement that children’s products include registration cards, so customers can be found in recalls.

Mr. Durbin said he thought there was support in Congress for such a mandate, even if the commission was not willing to adopt it on its own. “Not only has the confidence of American consumers been shaken, but the confidence of the toy makers in their own process has been, too,” he said. “They thought they had a good system. Clearly it is not.”

Eric Lipton reported from Washington and Louise Story from New York.

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[Darth Wong]

What happened to the omniscient Invisible Hand of the free market? Don't tell me that government oversight can be a good thing!

[Isolder74]

It went the way of the Dodo apparently. Suck this down Libertarians!

[aerius]

What happened to the omniscient Invisible Hand of the free market? Don't tell me that government oversight can be a good thing!

The all-knowing Invisible Hand of the free market only works in America of course, not in countries like China. Clearly, we need government oversight of those evil foreign countries.

[Isolder74]

What happened to the omniscient Invisible Hand of the free market? Don't tell me that government oversight can be a good thing!

The all-knowing Invisible Hand of the free market only works in America of course, not in countries like China. Clearly, we need government oversight of those evil foreign countries.

The truth of the matter is that Business tends to do what is cheapest rather then what is 'best.' OSHA exists for this very reason. Without thos safety regulations Companies would rather get the most work out of men without having to worry about keeping them safe. After all they can simply hire someone else to take Joe Blo's place then spend the money to keep Joe alive.

[Sidewinder]

I predict toys will become slightly more expensive to pay for the testing. That's still a small price to pay, compared to medical bills for treating lead poisoning or other hazards.

[ThatGuyFromThatPlace]

Most industries self regulate before asking for federal help, I don't see the problem with creating an 'ESRB of Toy Safety'. federal involvement should only come after an industry fails to provide self regulation.