Around Town

Are Your Toys Naughty or Nice?

By AMANDA RAUS

Updated 7:04 PM EST, Thu, Dec 4, 2008

The Salvation Army is asking San Diegans to help replenish the toys by donating new, unwrapped toys to the downtown office at 827 7th Avenue, or any Salvation Army corps community center.

Toys were broken up into best and worse. Before buying, check to see how the toy your tot wants rates.

The Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut is helping parents pick out safe toys this holiday season. It teamed up with www.HealthyToys.org to test children’s toys that are on the shelves this time of year.

“Unlike food products, toys don’t come with an ingredients list,” said Polly Barey of the Connecticut Nurses’ Association.

The findings said parents should still be cautious about the toys they allow their children to play with.

“While the 2008 testing shows some improvement from last year in lead in toys, it turns out lead is still found to be widespread, detected in 20 percent of the products tested,” said Barey.

All of the findings were listed on www.HealthyToys.org. The website also allows parents to look up individual toys. Through the website, Elizabeth O’Neill, a West Hartford mother, found out her daughter’s toy was toxic.

“It turns out, after looking at Healthy Toys.org, one of the toys my daughter had been playing with on Thanksgiving happened to be one of the top 10 lead filled toys,” said O’Neill.

Watch Video

Toys get tested for toxic materials in West Hartford.

Are Your Toys Toxic?

In a statement e-mailed to NBC Connecticut.com, LeapFrog said it disputes the results of the report stating there are elevated levels of lead in the Leapster2 carrying case. The company also disputes the testing methodology used.

”LeapFrog’s complete line of learning products, including accessories, is designed and tested to exceed the strictest safety requirements for children's products,” the company said in a statement. “LeapFrog has substantive and certified testing results from a third-party lab that verifies the Leapster2 carry case well exceeds all safety requirements, in both the United States and Europe. As part of our ongoing testing procedure, the Leapster2 carrying case was most recently tested in October 2008.”

The HealthyToys.org report is based on results from a handheld X-ray fluorescence device, according to LeapFrog.

“These machines are known to produce questionable results. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will soon conduct, ‘a study to evaluate the effectiveness, precision and reliability of XRF technology,’ the LeapFrog said.

Click here for more on the Worst toys, as identified in the list.