Find The Missing Word

Today, acting Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Nancy Nord issued a press release titled, "CPSC Delivers the ABC’s of Toy Safety," which includes "CPSC's Top Safe Shopping Tips."

But these tips leave out an important word. Kids, see if you can identify the missing word in "CPSC's Top Safe Shopping Tips!"

• Ride-on Toys – Riding toys, skateboards and in-line skates go fast and falls could be deadly. Helmets and safety gear should be sized to fit.
• Small Parts – For children younger than age three, avoid toys with small parts, which can cause choking.
• Magnets – For children under age six, avoid building sets with small magnets. If magnets or pieces with magnets are swallowed, serious injuries and/or death can occur.
• Projectile Toys – Projectile toys such as air rockets, darts and sling shots are for older children. Improper use of these toys can result in serious eye injuries.
• Chargers and Adapters – Charging batteries should be supervised by adults. Chargers and adapters can pose thermal burn hazards to children.

To choose appropriate toys for children:

• Be a label reader. Look for toy labels that give age and safety recommendations and use that information as a guide.
• Select toys to suit the age, abilities, skills and interest level of the intended child. Look for sturdy construction, such as tightly-secured eyes, noses and other potential small parts.
• For all children under 8, avoid toys that have sharp edges and points.

Once the gifts are open:

• Immediately discard plastic wrappings on toys before they become dangerous play things.
• Keep toys appropriate for older children away from younger siblings or neighbors.
• Pay attention to instructions and warnings on battery chargers. Some chargers lack any device to prevent overcharging.

Can you say the missing word? That's right! It's "LEAD."

Incredibly, Nancy Nord's CPSC has absolutely no safe shopping tips in regards to lead.

Contrast that with Consumer Report's 12 safe shopping tips, which begin with these two:

1. Do not buy metal jewelry — especially cheap metal jewelry — for young children. About 20 percent of children’s metal jewelry has high levels of lead lurking beneath the surface coating. A child who mouths or accidentally swallows a piece of lead-laden jewelry can suffer lead poisoning.

2. You can test toys for lead by using a home lead test kit. Although they are not always accurate, a positive test result indicates a high likelihood that the product you’re testing has lead. Consumer Reports recommends the Lead Check and the Lead Inspector, which performed best in our tests.

The rest of CPSC's news release does mention lead once, but to pretend that the lead poisoning threat has been taken care of: "The Chinese government has signed new agreements to conduct pre-export inspections to prevent lead painted toys and other unsafe toys from being exported to the U.S."

Nancy Nord may be the Consumer Product Safety commissioner, but she does not work for consumers and she does not stand for safety.

Sign the petition. Tell Nord to go.

(hat tip: Anne Thompson)

UPDATE: Nancy Nord may not want to tell you about it, but both US PIRG and the Center for Environmental Health released reports today finding more lead-tainted toys still on the shelves at major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future