Toys painted with lead are potential source of lead toxicity in children. Recently as many research studies have shown the high level content of lead in some toys especially those painted with PVC are serious threat to the health of children, we have seen many actions against such importers or manufactures who are involved in the production or importation of these toys. One such example is the recall of thousand of toys like Tank Engine along with trains, Mattel toys and famous Sesame Street toys. Most of such toys are found to be made from lead stabilized or lead pigmented PVC which contain lead and which means millions of children are either already been exposed or at risk of lead toxicity through such toys.
There have been reports that many Chinese companies made unannounced modification of their formulas and thus varying of levels of lead may be seen in toys being imported from China. However, not all toys imported from China contains lead and problems is for only those toys which are painted with lead containing paint, toys made up of PVC, toys made up of metal or toys in which involvement of lead in the manufacturing or finishing of toys is present. Unfinished toys made up of wood do not contain lead along with many other such materials in which lead is not present.
After the regular news and reports about hazards of toys containing lead to the health of children, the American Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in 2008 in which along with other mandatory practices for manufactures of toys it was said essential for manufactures to attain certification from third party after the same third part perform required testing to rule out presence of lead in toys and clear that toys are not hazardous to the health of children.
