As the holidays are set including the Christmas season which is fast approaching, the United States Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) has released its 35th annual "Trouble in Toyland" report where it is purposely made every year to inform citizens about the different hazardous parts of toys and other forms of playable stuff especially for the kids.
Just in time before the much-awaited Christmas and holiday shopping to buy gifts, in which toys are mainly given to children as their Christmas presents, the report was presented by the panel created by the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group or the ConnPIRG. The board was consisted of activists, doctors, parents, and other officials that has been actively participating on projects by the organization.
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ConnPIRG is one of the PIRgs that comprise the US PIRG and facilitates to prepare "Trouble in Toyland." PIRgs visited toy shops and other stores that sell playable objects for children, yet their inspections were a bit minimized due to the constraints brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel from ConnPIRG for this year's toy report includes the executive director of the Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children's Organization Kevin Borrup, former executive director of ConnPIRG Jim Leahy who is still active with the organization, Emergency Department Physician at Connecticut Children's Organization Steve Rogers, ConnPIRG campus organizer at Trinity College Lars Dahl, and US Senator Richard Blumenthal.
For this year's version of the Trouble in Toyland, there are six concern categories presented. The first one is the "mislabeled choking hazards", wherein toys that are properly classified may still be hazardous, despite passing the "small-parts" test that was established long before. It was followed by the "incredibly noisy" toys which could potentially affect the hearing of children.
Trouble in Toyland's Six Categories of Concern
The "third category presented was the "items not advisable for children", especially toys that include small magnets as a part of its composition and user experience. According to US PIRG, thousands of children were treated for indirectly digesting the small magnets. The fourth one was the "flocked animal figures", particularly the Calico Critters in which children under three years old find it attractive, even it was meant for children aged there years and older to play that could cause choking.
The last two categories were the "recalled toys available online", pertaining to US banned toys that are shipped in the US through foreign vendors, and the trendy "in-app purchases" where children playing online games in their gadgets or computers could cause them to buy unnecessary stuff without their knowledge, and may just tend to keep purchasing that the bill could go way up high.
Solutions such as proper equipment and protection when playing physical toys that could be classified as one of those above in Trouble in Toyland, like helmets and gloves were advised by the board to prevent those issues to occur. Rogers explained that he has seen multiple occasions of choking and swallowing of small parts of toys, especially the magnets over his course as a pediatrician and surgeon.
Also, proper parental guidance and supervision is still the best way to keep the children safe and away from harm not just in physical aspects but also on the tech side as mentioned by the panel, with the emergence of "in-app purchases" on some games being played by children nowadays.
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