Wary toy buyers get help from N.C. consumer group

Warnings of unsafe toys just before the start of the Christmas shopping season have more urgency this year.

A flurry of recalls, including more than 20 million toys imported from China, has parents on edge and Congress considering legislation to revamp the regulatory agency in charge of enforcing toy safety.

About 57 percent of the 8,000 consumers surveyed by Ohio research group BIGresearch said they plan to avoid all toys from China this Christmas shopping season. NCPIRG, a consumer advocacy group, is more selective, flagging about 60 potentially hazardous toys still on store shelves in a report released Tuesday at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.

"Toys should bring our children joy, not pain," said Michelle Kucerak, a Durham mother who spoke at the news conference.

Toymakers are under increasing pressure from parents, regulators and legislators.

On Tuesday, the Toy Industry Association, the trade group representing toymakers such as Mattel and Hasbro, on Tuesday announced it has set up a Web site at www.toyinfo.org and a toll-free hot line at (888) 884-8697 to provide consumers with safety tips, expert advice and information about recalled toys.

"While, hopefully, parents and children alike will enjoy toys this season, like Santa's elves we are working tirelessly behind the scenes with the federal government and independent organizations to assess and strengthen the testing standards and processes for toys," said Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association.

NCPIRG's report, done with its national organization, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, has become an annual tradition before the start of the holiday shopping season.

The "Trouble in Toyland" report provides safety guidelines for parents to use when purchasing toys and a list of products with potential choking hazards, small magnets, lead paint and toxic chemicals banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

To improve testing for and enforcement of toy safety laws, Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents part of the Triangle, has proposed legislation that would increase funding and staffing of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. President Bush has said he would veto the bill if it passes the Democratic-controlled Congress.

Price said Tuesday that he also supports replacing the commission's leadership.

The commission's record has long been problematic, he said. Its 15 inspectors are overwhelmed by a flood of toy imports, and its leaders have accepted trips paid for by the companies they are supposed to regulate.

"We don't have to be a Grinch," Price said during the NCPIRG press conference. But the recalls in past months have raised awareness that "we have to be mindful of what toys are appropriate."

(Bloomberg News contributed to this report.)