Finishing Up your Holiday Shopping? Avoid Unsafe Children’s Toys!!

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund, which conducts research on behalf of consumers and the public interest, has published its 28th annual survey of toy safety, Trouble in Toyland, which is a must-read for those finishing up their holiday shopping for the little ones in their lives. In this report, U.S. PIRG provides safety guidelines when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

For example, magnet toys made with neodymium iron boron magnets, such as the Buckyball magnets, make the list of potentially dangerous gifts because they can be accidentally swallowed. The magnets are so strong that if more than one is swallowed, they do not pass through a child’s digestive system. Instead, the balls can pull the intestines into loops, punch holes in the intestinal wall, and cause abscesses and infections in internal organs, according to Dr. Bryan Rudolph, an assistant professor of pediatric gastroenterology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, part of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

Read this report before going to the mall this holiday season.