Stop Before you Shop!

Earlier today, the Ecology Center released their most recent list of toys containing dangerous levels of toxic chemicals (click here to read the press release). The Ecology Center has tested 1,500 toys this year, using an X-ray florescence (XRF) device, which tests toys for six major chemicals of concern: lead, bromine, cadmium, chlorine/PVC, arsenic, and mercury. 20% of the toys they tested this year contained lead, and some of them actually contained over the legal limit for lead in Michigan (which is 600 parts per million(ppm)). So before you head over to Toys-R-Us to do your holiday shopping, check out the Ecology Center's rather frightening list of toxic toys. Here are the top-ten lead containing toys tested by the Ecology Center:

1.2 Hearts and Hannah Montana graphic necklace- by Disney
2.Halloween Pumpkin Pin- by The Christmas Tree Shop
3.Bracelets Collection- by The Christmas Tree Shop
4.Just My Style “It's So Charming” Jewelry Charm Bracelets- by Just My Style Jewelry
5.High School Musical crown necklace- by Disney
6.Leapster 2/Wall.E- by LeapFrog
7.Fairy and Flowers sandals- by HuanCheng
8.Thistle Blocks- by Edushape
9.Turbo Wheels-Lime Green- by Greenbrier International, Inc.
10.High School Musical “HSM” necklace- by Disney

And just as a benchmark, the Hannah Montana graphic necklace that tops off the list contains 406,510 ppm of lead, way over the legal limit. In general, be wary of children's toy jewelry. Of the products tested by the Ecology Center, toy jewelry was five times more likely to contain toxins than any other category of toy.

Check out the Ecology Center's Healthy Toys website to get more information on the most toxic and the safest toys. And maybe this year skip the toy store and get everyone puppies instead.