“Not again!” I sighed in disgust as I read a newspaper article outlining the latest recall of millions of toys and baby gear by Fisher-Price. My youngest will be two years old soon, and for the past nine years as a parent, I’ve been amazed by the sheer number of recalls for items that should be safe for our children to play with or use. In 2007, most of my exasperated friends refused to buy any toys made in China, due to a rash of recalls of products made there, due to too much lead. On the one hand, it’s nice that we have safety systems in place in the United States to catch these dangers. On the other, it’s quite scary as a parent to not have confidence in even the most well-known brands.
As mentioned, the latest toy recall is by Fisher-Price. The toy maker said it recalled approximately 2.8 million of several types of baby play areas with inflatable balls because of problems with choking. It also recalled 125,000 toys made in Canada that had loose valves from an inflatable ball that could come off and become a choking hazard; more than seven million tricycles, because of a protruding part that had cut children who rode them; and 120,000 small car toys, whose wheels had come off, causing a choking hazard, in at least two reported cases. To be sure that you haven’t purchased any of these items, go to Mattel’s recall website.
“Geez Louise,” as my mother would say. It’s frightening to be a parent these days. Or is it? The hundreds of recalls that have taken place over the past ten years—representing billions of infant and children’s toys, food and products—proves that we have systems in place to protect children, says Patty Davis, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), our arm of the government charged with protecting the public from unreasonable product-related risks. “Products for children are safer than ever. We are working on new manufacturing regulations for eighteen infant products at the moment, including infant bathtubs and cribs and strollers,” she explains.
Many companies voluntarily remove products from the shelves, like the recent Similac powdered infant formula recall. Abbott, parent company of Similac, removed particular brands of the product from shelves in September 2010 when it was discovered that some might have been contaminated in production.
