Boston consumer advocates and trial attorneys, Edward M. Swartz, James A. Swartz[1], and Joan E. Siff, on behalf of W.A.T.C.H., Inc., will present W.A.T.C.H.’s annual nominees for its “10 Worst Toys” list at a conference in Boston at The Franciscan Hospital for Children. Dangerous toys continue to abound in toy boxes and on store shelves despite recent media attention and legislative action. An astounding number of defective toys are still reaching the marketplace as evidenced by the slew of recalls in the last year. In the nearly twelve month period since W.A.T.C.H.’s last “10 Worst Toys” conference, there have been at least thirty one (31) toy recalls representing over four million six hundred forty (4,640,000) units of dangerous toys polluting the marketplace. These staggering numbers are clearly suggestive of a broken system that needs fixing before more children are harmed.

One focus of the 2009 conference is the need for continued vigilance on behalf of some less publicized yet enduring toy hazards that could lead to serious injury or death. While chemicals and lead in toys are critical issues that have received much publicity recently, consumers should not overlook other types of toy hazards. Toxic toys are a serious hazard that unfortunately can only be detected with sophisticated equipment. However, there are other hazards consumers can detect themselves while shopping. Awareness of classic toy dangers, such as choking from small parts, impact injuries, or risk of strangulation, that reappear year after year, can save lives. W.A.T.C.H.’s “10 Worst Toy” list, a hands-on tool for consumers, raises awareness of the different types of hazards to look out for while holiday shopping.

Small parts on toys have been a perpetual, often deadly, and shockingly overlooked hazard. For more than 37 years, Attorney Swartz and W.A.T.C.H. have identified toys with small parts that pose serious choking and ingestion hazards for small children. Despite these efforts, on toy store shelves today there remain an alarming number of toys with easily detachable small parts or affixed small parts that can be mouthed and occlude a child’s airway. According to the CPSC, in 2007 and 2008, ten (10) children dies when they choked on or aspirated a toy. Many consumers shop under the false pretense that toys bought from big-name manufacturers and retailers, such as Disney and Toys R Us, are not dangerous. In fact, seeing a familiar name on a package can lead to a false sense of security that the toy enclosed is safe.

Toys with small parts violations remain too common. Evidence of the continuing problem may be found in the numerous toy recalls due to choking hazards during the 12 months since W.A.T.C.H.’s 2008 “10 Worst Toys” conference. Since the last conference, the CPSC has recalled at least eleven (11) toys posing a choking risk, representing over two million eight hundred thirty six thousand (2,836,000) defective units.

Many toys on toy store shelves may not violate any industry or regulatory standards but are clearly dangerous, proving the gross inadequacy of existing standards. For instance, toys with parts that can detach and become lodged in a child’s throat are often not considered “small parts” by the industry. Young oral age children are at risk when they break off pieces of shoddily made or inadequately designed toys. These hidden hazards have led to many incidents of deaths and brain damage yet can still be found in newly designed toys.



While proper labeling, recalls and regulations are important for toy safety, toy manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure only safe products reach the marketplace. The millions of dangerous toys flooding store shelves before their hazards are identified highlight the inadequacy of current safety protocols. There is simply no excuse for toy companies making dangerous toys available to consumers. Although toys with hard, rigid parts that can cause blunt impact injuries have been identified year after year, many toys with these hazards continue to be found in toy stores. The burden must be on manufacturers and retailers, not consumers, to identify the known hazards before their products enter the channels of commerce.

The recent Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 will require the toy industry to be more accountable for the safety of its products. However, policing such a large industry remains a significant challenge. Thus, the first line of defense in preventing injuries to children has to be the responsibility of the toy industry for the safe design and manufacturer of children’s products. Injuries will be prevented only when toy makers put the safety of children before profits.



While there has been recent increased focus on toy safety by the government, dangerous toys are not a new problem. For over three decades, W.A.T.C.H. has identified toys defectively designed or manufactured that could lead to serious injuries or death. Despite these efforts, there remain an alarming number of dangerous toys on retail shelves. In the United States, over three billion toys are sold each year. The CPSC reported that in 2008 alone, there were at least nineteen (19) toy-related deaths to children under 15 years old, and an estimated two hundred thirty five thousand three hundred (235,300) toy-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. There is no excuse for manufacturing a toy with the capability of killing a child since toys are embellishments of life, not necessities. Consumers have a right to expect the toys they select for their children be designed with safety as a priority. In addition to the risk of choking and impact injuries, there are other known hazards that reappear each holiday season, including strangulation, burns, impalement, puncture wounds, and lacerations. The toy companies, retailers and the government must listen and act when dangerous toys are brought to their attention to prevent a recurrence of the same hazards --and the same injuries--year after year.

The “10 Worst Toys” list is one of the ways W.A.T.C.H. continues the fight to protect our children from unsafe toys.[2] The battle for safe children’s products continues against a 30 billion dollar a year toy and game industry. Protecting our children will, however, take more than a list of illustrative harmful toys. Safety for our children in the year 2009 and beyond will only occur when preventing injuries caused by unsafe toys becomes a number one priority for the toy industry and the government regulatory agencies.




James Swartz then presented W.A.T.C.H.’s nominees for this year’s “10 Worst Toys” list. The list exposes toy hazards seen year after year, despite continued efforts to educate and inform the industry. Swartz stressed that these particular toys are illustrative of some hazards in toys being sold to consumers, and should not be considered as the only hazardous toys on the market. Nominees for the year 2009 are as follows: (View list)

 

[1] Edward M. Swartz and James A. Swartz are consumer advocates and nationally known trial attorneys. Edward M. Swartz is the author of Toys That Kill (Vintage-Random House), Toys That Don’t Care (Gambit, dist. by Houghton Mifflin); Slaughter by Product (Kluwer Law Book Publishers) and Hazardous Products Litigation (2nd ed. Lawyers Cooperative Pub.), as well as many other books and scores of toy articles in both professional and lay journals. In the past, Mr. Edward Swartz has been a lecturer on products liability and related issues at the Boston University School of Law.

James Swartz has recently authored book chapters relating to child and product safety, including “Hazardous Playthings Causing Injury to Children”, Children and Injuries (Lawyers & Judges Pub. Co., Inc.); and “The Common Law in the New Millennium-Protecting Our Children”, Civil Trial Practice-Winning Techniques of Successful Trial Attorneys, (Lawyers & Judges Pub. Co., Inc.), as well as numerous articles.

[2] Edward M. Swartz, the founder of W.A.T.C.H., began the fight against toys causing harm to our children over 30 years ago. At that time, the National Commission on Product Safety asked him, as a product liability expert, to report on whether there were toys in the marketplace that presented a safety risk to children. Because of Mr. Swartz’s testimony, many new toy safety standards were recommended by the Commission. However, the toy industry’s response that there was “no problem” with toy safety prompted Mr. Swartz, after further research, to publish the book Toys That Don’t Care. The “10 Worst Toys” list became a means to annually update the public on toy safety. Mr. Swartz and W.A.T.C.H. continue these efforts to keep the public informed with the yearly nominees for the “10 Worst Toys” list.