Toy Safety Concerns Persist at Wal-Mart

Concerns about toy safety took a big bite out of holiday sales this year, and toy makers are working to reassure consumers. This video from CNN discusses the industry’s efforts, and how toy makers are using safety as a selling point.

The story comes out on a day when CPSC director Nancy Nord chastised the toy industry for ineffective safety procedures. Nord placed the bulk of the blame for unsafe toys on manufacturers, but retailers like Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us play a major role in the problem. Both companies have announced plans to increase toy safety standards, effectively mandating industry-wide changes.

These moves seem to avoid the real root of the problem. Wal-Mart’s toys are already failing to meet the company’s requirements, and raising standards won’t address the fact that toys are produced in fly-by-night factories and too often not tested for chemicals.  Toy makers should be testing toys more frequently and more thoroughly, a process which Wal-Mart has said little about. As it stands, Wal-Mart relies on a single laboratory for its product safety testing. The lab - Consumer Testing Laboratories in Bentonville, Ark. - is paid by Wal-Mart for its services, raising some questions about the lab’s objectivity. Not only has Wal-Mart failed to address these ethical problems, it has also neglected to increase or improve its testing practices.

Wal-Mart, Toys ‘R’ Us unveil new safety rules [CNN Money]

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, February 19, 2008