How to Find Lead-Free Holiday Toys

By: Heather Sullivan/News Channel 7 | News Channel 7
Published: November 05, 2007

The holiday shopping season is just beginning. Millions of toys have been recalled recently after they were found to contain lead. That probably has you worried that toys you buy could harm your child. So how do you know which toys are safe? We'll show you in this Seven On Your Side Consumer Watch.

A new toy can fill a child with joy, and fill a parent with fear.

Millions of toys have been recently recalled, found to contain lead. Lead can give children brain damage. Children either put the toy, or their hands after touching the toy, into their mouths, ingesting the lead. Said Lisa Colby with Safe Kids, "You'll see developmental issues, fatigue, sore muscles, headaches."

Colby says avoid discount toys and toys from vending machines. Said Colby, "Some of the cheapest toys on the market are going to be the ones that have lead paint."

Stores are usually quick to pull recalled toys off shelves. E-bay has a no-recalled toys policy. But recalled toys have been found for sale in both. So check the recall lists on websites for the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Safe Kids. There are links to those websites at the end of this article.

U.S. News and World Report suggests buying toys made in America or made without paint.

You can buy a home lead test kit to test your own toys. You'll dip a swab into a solution and rub it for about 30 seconds on the surface of a toy. If the swab turns yellow, brown or black, that tells you there's lead present. But you need to remember you're only testing the surface of the toy. This test will not tell you whether there may be lead within the material of the toy.

And be sure to take toys with lead away from your child and have the child tested. Said Colby, "If you suspect at all that your child may have been harmed in some way by lead paint, you need to get them tested right away."

Here are links to current lists of recalled toys:

Http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html

http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier2_rl.cfm?folder_id=2705

Here are links to companies that sell home lead test kits: