Toxic slime? Eavesdropping toys? Consumer advocates warn of 'Trouble in Toyland'
Toxic slime, missing warning labels and a possible invasion of privacy are among several warnings consumer advocates have for toy-buying parents this holiday season.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group released its 33rd annual report "Trouble in Toyland," which found at least 15 of the 40 toys that were tested may create safety hazards.
Six popular slime products were found to contain boron, likely to be in the form of borax or sodium tetraborate. Borax is known to be a mild irritant to skin and eyes, and if swallowed it can be fatal in children, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. High levels of borax have been banned in the European Union, however the non-partisan group said it found a number of slime products to have 15 times the EU's legal limit. The U.S. has no such limits on the amount of borax in a product.
The group has called on lawmakers to require labeling of products with high concentration of borox and wants industry toy makers to use alternatives to borax such as lotions or glue.
"Parents can be assured that slime and all other toys sold in the United States are compliant and safe," said Rebecca Mond, vice president of government affairs for The Toy Association.
The trade association represents more than 950 members from Amazon to Kangaroo Manufacturing, a company that had four of its slime products recalled in Canada in September after the government said it didn't meet its toy safety requirements. Kangaroo said it didn't receive any incident or injury reports relating to the use of the recalled slime in the country.
Private data may also be at risk, according to the "Trouble in Toyland" report. Through an investigation with the Mozilla Foundation, the group found two popular toys can share private information about children for advertising purposes. The non-partisan group says that the Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition doesn't allow users to delete data that it stores on the device and, according to the Mozilla Foundation, "Amazon gets to know your kid from cradle on."
The non-partisan public interest group also found that 87 percent of latex balloons on Amazon failed to have choking hazard labels on the website's descriptions. According to the trade association all toys sold in the U.S. must comply with safety regulations and have to be tested by an independent, accredited lab. Mond also said that balloons are not toys.
Amazon didn't respond to requests for comment from ABC News.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group said its efforts over several decades have led to more than 150 recalls and precautions made by toy makers.
Rachel Weintraub, legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, said "parents should not have to be detectives. Most consumers assume that a product available for sale is safe."
The Toy Association, which also represents Disney, the parent company of ABC News, assures consumers that "the only thing that parents need to be concerned about this year is purchasing fun toys for their children."
