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February 12, 2008
NYTimes: Toy Magnet Swallowed? No Problem. Two? Call 911.
The New York Times has a small item in the Health section of today's paper by reporter Nicholas Bakalar: Toy Magnet Swallowed? No Problem. Two? Call 911. The story says: "I'm not trying to disrupt anyone's day," said Dr. [Sanjeev] Dutta, who is an assistant professor of pediatric surgery at Stanford. "But the message here is that these are dangerous toys. If you have little kids around, or even big kids, I would avoid them." Last year, the toy industry added small dangerous magnets to its industry-wide voluntary safety standard known as ASTM F-963. Sounds good, but it isn't that good unless the Congress passes the Senate version of CPSC reform, which is being prepared for floor action. Under the House-passed version of CPSC reform, magnets and a number of other toy hazards covered only by F-963 simply won't be subject to certified third-party testing requirements. Only toy hazards covered by mandatory CPSC standards or bans (small parts choking hazards, lead paint, etc) but not magnets or yo-you water balls for example, would be. That would be a bizarre outcome for laws that were proposed after a wave of toy-related recalls. Recently, the CPSC recalled some small dangerous magnets found in our November Trouble in Toyland report.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at February 12, 2008 03:23 PM
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