Parents brought their children's toys to a city funded environmental center in San Francisco to be tested for lead and other harmful toxins. The toys were tested with a tool called an X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, or XRF, which can detect even trace amounts of lead and other toxic chemicals.

A close-up of the XRF scanner checking a baby teether for toxic substances.

The XRF machine, and the technician who operated it, were provided by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), an Oakland, California non-profit that has been instrumental in bringing the toxic toys issue to light over the past several months. It was CEH that discovered many lead tainted baby bibs and children's vinyl lunch boxes in the U.S. marketplace over the past three years through independent testing.

CEH has exposed a culture of corruption and incompetence at the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) the Federal agency charged with testing products, and keeping U.S. consumers safe from lead and other toxic chemicals. The CPSC, which is severely understaffed and kept on a very short leash by a congress and administration which values economic expediency and industry campaign contributions over public health, has a record of allowing toxic products into the U.S. marketplace. Now, during the rush of the Christmas toy buying season, the CPSC is being called to task for the many toxic toys that it allows to be sold in the U.S., toys laden with toxic materials like lead, arsenic, and mercury. Toys that may be sitting under your Christmas tree right now.

	Parents, children, and babies wait to have toys tested for lead and other dangerous toxins. Because of the limited time available, only two toys per family could be inspected.
	The toy truck being tested on the left was found to contain 30 ppm of arsenic. No level of arsenic is healthy in children's toys. Under current law, this toy will continue to be sold in U.S. stores, and the manufacturer is not required to disclose that it contains arsenic.

So how can you help to protect your kids from toxic chemicals? Well first, look beyond just the toy box, because other toxins exist in your child's environment that threaten their health. The most prevalent are PVC plastics that contain phthalates. These are the type of soft gummy plastics used for many teethers, baby bottle nipples, rubber duckies and similar children's toys. Phthalates have been linked to premature birth, reproductive defects, and the early onset of puberty in girls. Although many manufacturers have removed phthalates from toys and other products intended for very young children, many others have not. Toys made with phthalates are illegal to sell in the European Union, but there is no such law in the U.S.. The U.S. does not even require that manufacturers label products that contain phthalates.

Another toxic danger to your baby is bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to Down's syndrome, obesity, hyperactivity, and breast cancer that is present in almost all plastic baby bottles. (A word to the wise, you might want to consider using glass baby bottles.)

On October 14, 2007 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed assembly bill 1108 into law, thereby banning the use of phthalates in children's toys sold in California. The State of California has now created a webpage on how to avoid exposing your child to toxins that is very informative. California hopes to lead the way for other states on this issue, which has been sorely neglected by federal legislators for far too long.