Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 337595
Story Slug US Pirg / Unsafe Toys / News Conference (1991)
Location WASHINGTON, DC
Format TVD
Date 11/18/1991
Archive Time :10
TRT 6:34
Video Description News conference, shots of various toys, Little People Nursery Set, toy train, crib toys, frog, stuffed toy that moves, toddler playing with toy
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) 00:00 I'm a staff attorney with the US Public Interest Research Group, US perg is the national lobbying office for state pirgs across the country, the pirgs are non profit, non partisan, consumer and environmental and states and Washington, DC in the last month, 00:20 and there certainly is trouble in toy land this holiday season, shoppers must examine toys carefully before they make their holiday purchases 00:31 Toys are supposed to bring children pleasure and joy, but too often bring pain and sometimes even death 00:39 Toy related injuries are climbing steadily increasing from 131,000 00:45 emergency room treated injuries in 1987 00:48 to 148,000 00:50 in 1989 00:52 to 164,500 00:55 in 1990 00:57 that's an 11% increase in injuries in just the last year, 01:03 and 23 children died last year in toy related incidents, and to coincide with the beginning of the holiday shopping season, we're here today to warn parents that they must be careful They must check toys when they're purchasing their holiday toys for the holidays, 01:23 many people assume that the toys on the shelves have been pre approved by the government and that they're safe, but that's not true The sad truth is that parents cannot assume that the toys they find on the shelves are safe Today, we're going to display a number of unsafe toys that we found on toy store shelves in the last 01:46 despite this law, however, choking on small toys or parts of toys, balloons, small balls and marbles, continues to be the leading cause of toy related deaths More than half of the toy related deaths in the last 18 months were caused by choking 02:07 Now, one of the reasons that children continue to choke on small parts of toys and other 02:15 the next toy I wanted to show you is this little vanilla kitty 02:20 It's very soft Feels fun to play with, and children under three would definitely enjoy playing with this toy Let me show you how it works I 02:44 The problem with this toy is this little vanilla ice cream right around the neck It comes off very easily 02:53 and obviously poses a choke hazard to children younger than three The thing that's even worse about this toy is this is in the shape of an ice cream cone It smells like vanilla, and it's really an invitation for children to put it in their mouths, just to pop it right in and it could choke children 03:19 That warning explains that the age labeling has safety implications Many parents assume that age labeling ages three and up, has to do with the developmental maturity of a child, and if they think that their child is a little bit more developed than the average child, or they want to purchase a toy that the child can grow into, they're likely to buy that toy without realizing that the age label means that the toy may have a small part that could be lethal to a child who still puts small parts into their mouth 03:56 That's why we support efforts at both the federal and the state level to require 04:02 choke hazard warning labels to be placed on toys to clearly inform parents about the choke hazards associated with small parts The toys I've showed you so far have violated the small part state Toy related deaths and injuries continue to occur The first reason is that the Consumer Product Safety Commission 04:26 is not adequately enforcing the law Toy makers continue to put toys on the shelves that violate the current small part standard And these examples in our report show that toy makers continue to violate the current law 04:43 Thank you very much 04:46 Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you in the 04:51 light We haven't notified the toy manufacturers directly yet As we just found these toys in the last month, we just completed the list last week 05:00 Got it to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and we're assuming they'll be following up with the manufacturers themselves, someone under three years old, and we've encouraged them to then at least put the label 05:12 Yes, 05:15 the toys that are here, actually, there's one toy that I brought It's not on our list this year, but I first 05:23 interact 05:25 with tones around use that on TV 05:35 Motion 05:40 Motion 05:42 Somebody's going to do this later Yes, yeah, 05:57 okay 06:02 I little 06:08 bit I
Not everything listed in the CONUS Archive is necessarily licensable Reporter sound/image is not licensable

Keywords

Public Interest Research Group
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