By SCOTT WHIPPLE
Herald staff

WEST HARTFORD — The Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut and its partners nationwide have released the second annual consumer guide to toxic chemicals in toys at HealthyToys.org. The coalition is a partnership of organizations and individuals working to reduce toxic chemicals that threaten human health and the environment.

Researchers tested more than 1,500 popular children’s toys for lead, cadmium, arsenic, PVC and other harmful chemicals in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. One in three toys tested was found to contain “medium” or “high” levels of chemicals of concern.

Lead was detected in 20 percent of the toys tested this year. In fact, lead levels in some of the products were well above the 600 parts-per-million federal recall standard used for lead paint, and will exceed the U.S. legal limit in February, according to new Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations. Levels of lead in many toys were significantly above the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended ceiling of 40 ppm of lead in children’s products. Children’s jewelry remains the most contaminated product category, still at the top of HealthyToys.org’s “worst” list.

CPSC regulations, which take effect in February, would make certain products on the shelf this holiday season illegal to sell. Experts insist these new regulations, while a good first step, do not go far enough to protect children.

The coalition recently held a toy-testing event at Our Children’s Daycare Center at the First Baptist Church in West Hartford. Pastor Tom Carr called toxic toys “an issue of caring for our precious and vulnerable young ones. We feel mandated by our faith to create the safest environment we can.”

“Our hope is that by empowering consumers with this information, manufacturers and lawmakers will feel the pressure to start phasing out the most harmful substances immediately, and to change the nation’s laws to protect children from highly toxic chemicals,” said Sarah Uhl of Clean Water Action, which coordinates the Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut.

Lawmakers agreed with Carr and Uhl.

“Last year, we made Connecticut one of the first states to act to get lead and asbestos out of toys, but this study shows that other toxic substances need to be addressed, too,” said state Rep. Tim O’Brien, D-24th District. “Parents should be able to know that their kids’ toys are safe.”

“Ultimately, we need a comprehensive approach to phase out hazardous chemicals when safer alternatives are available,” said state Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-26th District, to phase out hazardous chemicals when safer alternativesare available, said state Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-26th, a registered nurse. In addition to allowing parents to search by product name, brand, or toy type to see if certain toys have toxic chemicals, the newly redesigned site also allows visitors to create a personalized holiday wish list that can be sent to family and friends, and a blog-friendly widget to search the toy ratings.

Researchers tested toys for chemicals that have been associated with reproductive problems, developmental and learning disabilities, hormone problems and cancer, also those that have been identified by regulatory agencies as problematic.

Babies and young children are the most vulnerable because their brains and bodies are still developing, and because they frequently put toys in their mouths.

The testing was conducted with a screening technology — the portable X-Ray fluorescence analyzer — that identifies the elemental composition of materials on or near the product’s surface.

“The public is sometimes quick to blame China for toxic toys,” said Phil Sherwood of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group. “Unfortunately, the reality is there is not necessarily a correlation; it’s much more widespread. Thirty-five percent of the toys tested from the U.S. had detectable levels of lead.”

The good news is that 62 percent of the products tested contain low levels of chemicals of concern, and 21 percent of all products contain no chemicals of concern. These products look and feel no different than other children’s products on the shelf. The bottom line, according to HealthyToys.org, is that manufacturers can and should make toys free of unnecessary toxic chemicals.

HealthyToys.org provides electronic messages visitors can send to urge federal and state govern-ment and toy manufacturers to phase out toxic chemicals from toys immediately and reform our laws to protect children. HealthyToys.org is a project of the Ecology Center — a Michigan-based nonprofit environmental organization.

Scott Whipple can be reached at swhipple@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 319.