With the recent rash of recalls of Chinese-made toys and products, most parents must be wondering what is exactly safe to buy their children. The latest is the recall of AquaDots, a bead toy that solidifies when it gets wet to form various shapes. After being on the market, scientists have found out that Aqua Dots is made with chemicals that convert into the “date rape” drug upon ingestion. The horrifying part of this story is that injuries to kids could have been prevented if companies chose to do quality control before placing their products on the market.

Since many of the component parts of toys are manufactured outside of the country, finding a company that uses all US-made components makes it even more difficult to be a careful and safe shopper. When it comes to our kids safety, buying the safest product needs to be our topmost concern. But how do we find these toys and games?

I know I’m getting a little tired of digging through the toy box once a month looking for recalled toys. Three things are bothering me about this. One, my child has been exposed to something quite dangerous. It bothers me that toy manufacturers aren’t checking the products before putting them on the market. This would be the logical and responsible action to take (even before the influx of recalls). Why is American industry still working with any importers without verifying the safety of the imported products first? Secondly, what are our options as consumers? Do we really have any? Third, what about all the hand-me-down toys from my older children by these very same companies? Those toys are 10-years old. Are they safe? I’m beginning to seriously doubt it since there’s obviously no quality control now when recalls are making the national and international news. That definitely leads me to believe they sure weren’t doing any QC 10 years ago.

During my scouring of the internet for “American-made” toys, I have to say I turned up very little. Most of the toys are either games, such as Monopoly, Candyland, and Scrabble or wooden blocks or pull toys. So there are at least a few options for parents with toddlers and preschoolers who love wooden toys. But what do we do about older kids? And what do we do about our kid’s favorite character toys? I’m at a loss. I feel certain that if I called a manufacturer right now and asked if they could guarantee a toy manufactured outside the United States was 100 percent safe, they couldn’t do it. It’s a frightening reality.

So what about plastic toys – the trikes and slides and kitchens our kids love so much? It turns out the toys produced by the company Step2 are made in the USA. Again, I’ll reiterate that I have not called them specifically to check if any of the component parts are made outside the USA. However, it was heartening to see a popular brand show up on the list.

I’m including a list of web sites from a Fox News article with toys manufactured in the United States. This in no way means all of them are manufactured in their entirety in the USA. However, this will at least provide you a little assistance in purchasing toys that are safe for your children. Remember, most of these vendors do sell some toys manufactured outside of the US. If you are concerned, request manufacturing information about a specific toy via e-mail or phone. The original article was published in August when the first of the Chinese-made toy recalls began.

www.americanplastictoys.com
www.ShopForAmerica.com
www.ZebulonUSA.com
www.usmadetoys.com
www.holgatetoy.com
www.maplelandmark.com
www.kathyskreations.com
www.lauritoys.com
www.scalemodeltoys.com
www.tigercandyarts.com
www.fingazinga.com
www.turnertoys.com
www.knex.com
www.step2.com
www.zometool.com
www.marxtrains.com
www.bekainc.com
www.channelcraft.com
www.woodentrain.com
www.unclegoose.com
www.ez2love.com
www.froebelgifts.com
www.storyboardtoys.com
www.tagtoys.com
www.taurustoy.com
www.underthegreenroof.com
www.fractiles.com

Some companies are now putting their own quality testing specifications on their web sites to reassure parents. Product safety and quality assessment should be the foremost concern for every toy manufacturer or vendor. Toy companies need to make their own vendors accountable with regulations and quality control of products. This proactive approach to dealing with the increased problem of dangerous imported toys is the only the answer to this potentially deadly problem.

Our children should be able to play safely with the toys they love. We as parents, should be able to purchase toys for our kids without fear. It really isn’t too much to ask or expect.