Toy Safety - Protecting your baby or toddler in an unregulated industry

Surprisingly enough, the toy industry is largely unregulated.  The government leaves testing of infant, toddler, and baby products up to the manufacturers themselves and require very little in the way of testing for harmful materials or other dangers.  As a result, we made the decision to have our Juno plush doll independently tested - something many companies do not do.  Parents are often given a false sense of security.  As most of you have noticed at one time or another, there is a label on every plush doll which has registration numbers in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Massachusetts.  It should alarm you that these are more or less rubber stamps that involve very little (if any) testing of the actual product.  For example, our Juno doll was approved by the government before we learned through independent testing that her long pig-tails did not withstand 25 pounds of pressure pull.  We went back to the drawing board and created something that was completely safe.  So why don't all US manufacuturers use such independent testing?  The simple answer is cost.  Independent testing costs over 20 times more than the testing for the state of Ohio.  It is surprising to us that more companies (with large revenues!) don't take this extra step. 

There has been quite a bit of news surrounding the discovery of lead paint in 1.5 million Thomas the Train toys.  Much of the blame has been placed on China since all 24 recalled toys in the last year and 60% of all recalled products in the US came from China.  But it's surprising to us that more American companies don't look inward and re-evaluate their decision making practices and consider both the economic AND ethical implications.