Eliminating hazardous toys

Friday, Aug. 1, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.

Under normal circumstances American consumers seem to have little clout against powerful special interests in Washington. Industries fend off proposed regulations by spending millions of dollars on lobbying efforts and campaign donations. Consumers are often stuck with the consequences without having much say in the process.

Miraculously, consumers scored a rare major victory on Capitol Hill on Monday when House and Senate negotiators agreed to support a compromise bill to ban from children’s toys hazardous lead and certain phthalates, chemical compounds used in plastics to make them flexible. The legislation, which has the support of toy manufacturers and retailers but is opposed by the powerful chemical industry, still needs to be passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, who has opposed a ban.

But the fact the bill got this far, despite a multimillion-dollar campaign by phthalate manufacturer Exxon Mobil to fight it, says a lot about the seriousness of exposing children to potentially lethal products such as lead. This nations’ woeful product safety net was exposed last year with massive recalls of Chinese-made toys and costume jewelry containing the metallic substance.

In addition to the crackdown on the toxins, the legislation would provide more funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its oversight of manufacturers and maintain a database of health-related complaints about products. Also, toys designed for children would go through mandatory testing.

It is unfathomable that such testing is not mandated, but that simply proves the clout chemical companies have wielded in Washington all these years. Yet parents have every reason to expect that when they come home with a toy, it will not put their children in the hospital

Our only regret with the legislation is that most of the provisions would not take effect until after the next holiday shopping season. But we hope the bill, if it becomes law, sends a message to chemical companies that product safety is not a subject they should take lightly.