National Toy Recalls Make Holiday Shopping a Little Trickier

The holiday season is a season of giving. For many kids, it seems more like a season of receiving. Parents flood into toy stores and department stores to find gifts for their children. Unfortunately, some toys are better left on the shelves.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled dozens of toys this year, some in the past month. Many of these dangerous products do not seem problematic, but can cause serious injury.

In one instance, a toddler was given a rocking horse to play with. But the horses were recalled after the little girl was almost strangled by the reins. The recall came four years after the rockers were first sold and over a thousand had been bought by parents. Many parents probably didn’t even realize the rockers were recalled.

Unfortunately, that is often the case. Parents do not know that a consumer product is dangerous until something goes wrong. Usually at that point, the product has already been in stores for a while. That is why the CPSC is encouraging parents this year to be cautious when purchasing toys that could potentially harm their children.

There are certain trends when it comes to recalling certain toys. In many situations, a toy will have small pieces that can cause small children to choke. There have also been products that were initially safe, but with a little use can expose pieces that are harmful. The CPSC estimates that nearly 100,000 children under five were injured by a toy this past year.

The number of toys recalled this year is actually lower than in previous years. In addition, the number of toy-related fatalities has also decreased. But parents should still be careful when buying toys this holiday season to make sure their children aren’t put in danger.

Source: Forbes online, “Ten Dangerous Toys for 2010,” Zack O’Malley Greenburg, 03 December 2010