Toy Recalls

Man have there been a lot of scary toy recalls lately. Luckily we've never had a toy (at least that I know of) that has been recalled, but evidently this is pretty common. On Milwaukeemoms.com people were talking about how many toys they've gotten that have been recalled. Barbara had actually been talking about "Aquadots" and I had looked at them as a possibility for Christmas but decided against them. Good thing, because they were recalled for having the chemical GHB in them, which is also known as the date rape drug! It has made some kids very sick. A lot of the made in China stuff is questionable and has been found to contain toxins and chemicals, such as dangerous levels of lead. I think this is an unfortunate instance where free trade alone cannot be left to just "correct" itself. You can't just let kids get sick and die before you realize there is a problem and then adjust it after the fact. Children should not be subjected to market experiments. Yes, consumer awareness is important, but a parent should be able to expect that a toy for children contains life threatening toxins. It's not like we all have little science labs in the basement we can take our toys to and check their chemical makeup. I'm glad that for the most part we tend to favor the type of toys that are more "natural" and "open-ended", which tend not to be as subject to these recalls, but I'm sure we have some China crap around here too. There needs to be some sort of regulations in the toy industry, wouldn't you say???