Wanted: Safe, lead-free toys for children

Parents are understandably OC (obsessive-compulsive) when it comes to making sure that the toys their children play with are safe. After all, they’ve been amply warned about lead-laced toys and how this toxin could be ingested by children whose developing brains could be damaged permanently.

With Christmas just a few months away — or probably your child’s, godchild’s or friends’ children’s birthdays are just around the corner — you must already be obsessing over what gifts to give these precious little ones.

The bright news, according to environmental and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition, is that there are toys that can be made without using lead paints. Such as the wooden toys the EcoWaste team happily found in different retail outlets in Manila. With a handheld x-ray fluorescence device, some 25 brightly colored wooden toys, mostly imported from China, were screened and found to contain no detectable level of lead on the paint coatings.

Thony Dizon, coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect, says with a sigh of relief: “Toys coated with lead paints are totally unsafe for kids to play with.  They can unknowingly ingest lead as they put their hands, toys, and other objects contaminated with lead paint chips or dust in their mouths. We are therefore elated to find lead-safe toys this time around.”

Dizon stresses, “Our latest findings should push other toy manufacturers, especially the local ones who are still using lead paints, to stop the perilous practice and comply with the law.”

FYI, the newly promulgated Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds, issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, strictly prohibits the use of lead in the production of toys.

The samples included alphabet and number toys; animal, flower and shape jigsaw puzzles; pet animal figures; musical instruments; pull toys; and other playthings, fully or partially coated with vibrant colors such as yellow, red, orange, green, blue, and other hues.

The wooden toys, costing from P16 to P449.75, were obtained July 11 to 18 from diverse retail outlets in Manila, such as National Book Store, Shopwise, and SM Toy Kingdom Express in Harrison Plaza Malate, Daiso Japan and Toys R Us in Robinsons Place Ermita, Booksale Paco and Isetann Department Store in Quiapo, as well as at bargain stores in 168 and 999 Shopping Malls, Divisoria.  

In 2011, six of the 11 wooden toys sent by the group to the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, USA for lab analysis were found to contain excessive lead content, with a Cebu-made nautilus jigsaw puzzle containing lead up to 45,671 parts per million (ppm).

There’s no safe threshold for lead exposure — meaning there’s no known small amount of lead that will not cause harm to the body.

A World Health Organization fact sheet says, “At high levels of exposure, lead attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions, and even death. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with mental retardation and behavioural disruption.

“At lower levels of exposure that cause no obvious symptoms, and that previously were considered safe, lead is now known to produce a spectrum of injuries across multiple body systems. In particular, lead affects children’s brain development, resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioural changes such as shortening of attention span and increased antisocial behaviour, and reduced educational attainment.”

WHO warns that the neurological and behavioural effects of lead are believed to be irreversible.

Indeed, ensuring the safety of our children’s toys is no kid stuff.

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Keeping the ‘Baryanihan’ spirit alive

Got coins or loose change? I’m sure you do. I do — my wallet is bursting at the seams with coins. What to do with these idle coins? For a change, why not donate some to the Baryanihan program of SM Hypermarket and make a difference in the lives of some underprivileged school children?

The Baryanihan program, SM Hypermarket’s fund-raising campaign in partnership with SM Foundation, asks shoppers if they would like to donate their unwanted loose coins for the benefit of some of the most underprivileged schools within each branch’s community. The campaign is being implemented in all SM Food Retail stores, SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Savemore Market branches nationwide. SM issues a receipt to donors for the donation.

Like last year’s campaign, Baryanihan 2014 aims to raise funds to make life a little more comfortable in public schools by donating TV sets, sound systems, electric fans, trash bins, monoblock chairs, water dispensers, and more.

The collections from all SM branches will go to 170 public schools located within SM Food Retail stores’ communities.

Baryanihan was launched in 2011 for the benefit of Manila Zoo. In 2012, it was implemented in 30 SM Hypermarket branches and turned over as much as P2 million to various charitable institutions like churches, orphanages, schools, and elderly homes (surely, a little can go a long way).

All shoppers’ donations were doubled by SM as a counterpart for the program.

In 2013, the project zeroed in on improving learning conditions in public schools by donating over P2.8 million worth of appliances and school supplies to 37 schools with some 83,000 students. The schools received LED TV sets, air conditioners, refrigerators, sound systems, and more.

This year, the campaign gets even bigger and better, with SM Supermarket and Savemore stores joining SM Hypermarket in its campaign for education. Baryanihan hopes to make studying more fun for an estimated 600,000 students.

Through the years, the project has demonstrated how loose coins that we often take for granted could touch lives when used collectively for a good cause.

Baryanihan 2014 will run until December 31, 2014 and the donations will be turned over within the next two months.

Let’s keep the Baryanihan spirit alive!