IBNlive Chat: Answers to your queries on toxic toys

Just how safe are those fancy, expensive, glitzy toys children in your household play with? Parvinder Singh, Senior Programme Officer with Toxics Link, an NGO working on toxic pollution answered on IBNlive chat you queries on toxic toys, lead component and its effect on children.

Here is the complete transcript.

Hema: How to select non toxic toys? What are the remedies to this problem?

Parvinder Singh: Children have a very high absorption of heavy metals, and they are known to cause neurological affects. They have impact on kidneys as well. Therefore the source of this exposure through toys needs to stop. Doctors would be best qualified on follow-up options. One can consider getting the child checked for heavy metal poisoning. For issues that need to kept in mind while picking up toys, I have already given general hints.

Vasantha: Hi Parvinder, my younger son is 7- months old and he puts everything into his mouth. We have read this information about the toxic toys, now we are keeping toys away from him. My question is that can we give the house-hold items like spoons and bowls to him to play? Are toys made with stainless steel safe?

Parvinder Singh: Yes they are safer on this account. We also need to take a call on how many toys we really need at this phase of their lives.

Aparna: My baby is 5 months old, what toys should I give her to play with ? Can you please let me know some brands.

Parvinder Singh: It is difficult to make statements about brands here. As said in earlier answers, try and avoid plastic and PVC toys. This is an age when parents provide teethers to the babies. You need to look for best options available.

Mrs. Usha Sudarshan: How to identify that the toys that my kid is playing with as of now whether they contains lead or not? They are bright in colors like yellow, orange, purple - as told to have high lead content. How can I make sure that it does not contain any toxic element in them? Any further suggestions on this would greatly help me in future purchase of toys for my daughter.

Parvinder Singh: The first line of defense for products of all kinds is the labeling on them. As I have already stated there is no binding norm for this in India. You are right, the brighter the toy the higher is the possibility of lead content in it.

Ishita Yashvi: Would you have an idea whether or not it is possible to manufacture these toys without any lead content in it?

Parvinder Singh: Yes, absolutely. Lead can be completely replaced from the production process of toy manufacturing.

Madhu: Which company’s toys are safe? Should we refrain from giving any plaything to our little ones?

Parvinder Singh: It is not wise to declare any particular company as safe as the toy industry at various levels uses lead containing paints or this heavy metal as an ingredient. There needs to be a material shift. As a parent and a citizen, you should demand a toxics-free product.

Swatantra K Jain: How one may come to know whether the toy is toxic or not?

Parvinder Singh: I have already replied to this to an earlier reader.

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Amit Mishra: I read a couple days ago about how the so called expensive and thus supposedly 'safe' Barbie accessories also contain toxic materials. I am wondering if you could elaborate the status of law on this - is there some quality control measures on place in India like BIS marks or something? And if not, what is the way out? Because in Singapore where I am working at present, each toy has to go through rigorous quality checks.

Parvinder Singh: As you know now the brand or the cost of a toy is not a foolproof basis for assuming that it is safe. Yes, BIS standards are there but these safety codes are voluntary in case of toys. We are demanding that these should be made binding.

Ruchita Khurana: What toys should be considered safe, when virtually all toy packagings display the mention as "No Toxic" or "toxic safe"?

Parvinder Singh: Ruchita, the fact that despite testing of so many branded and unbranded toys containing lead and cadmium, one cannot take the manufacturers to the court for misinformation or non-disclosure as there is no law against this today. So a manufacturer in India can say any thing on the label and not abide by it.

Renganayaki: Are wooden toys, clay toys a better option to plastic ones.? What care should be taken before buying them? I am planning to dispose all the plastic toys and buy no more of them.

Parvinder Singh: One cannot make a blanket statement about wooden toys being safe and the issue is really about what kind of toy it is. For instance, if it coloured with lead-heavy chemical-based paint, then it is not safe. However, the fact that wood itself will not need chemicals to make it brighter or keep its shape means it could be safer in a relative sense. I think dumping toys is a personal statement and an immediate measure to save oneself and ones family from hazard. But the fact is that toxics are increasingly being used for products we use...what we need is to ask for policy focus on the issue.

Sonal: Hello sir, my daughter is 8 months old and puts everything she can lay her hands on in her mouth. How do I know whether a toy is toxic or not? I understand the presence of lead in paints used for toys is what makes it toxic, this holds good for all plastic toys? Does it include soft toys too?

Parvinder Singh: Sonal, we found lead in soft toys as well. As long as the toy makers are not made to make a declaration as per the law, you have to suspect them. The paints used for toys has lead in it, but lead is also used as an ingredient to stabilize PVC and make the plastic toys firm.

Anuragini: Hi Parvinder Wanted to know if there are any means of understanding, at a common person's level, whether a toy is toxic or not. Are there any specific materials/colours that one should avoid while making a purchase? Or is there a specific brand, which has been declared safe, and is available in our country, eg: Mattel etc?

Parvinder Singh: Our research has shown that plastic and PVC toys have high levels of lead in them, so these become the usual suspects. You really can not classify them on the basis of brand as we found lead in both, the branded and the so-called local ones. Try and avoid toys that have shower-curtain smell, are bright and have a rubbery feel to them. See the Mattel recall happened because of lead in the paints that was used on the toys, till the recall they were considered safe. In India, there is no law that makes it mandatory for manufacturers to state toxicity in toys.