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BOSTON – The Black Panthers' "sharp blade" and Power Ranger plastic sword are among the top items on the annual list of worst toys for a consumer protection group for the holiday season.
W.A.T.C.H., of Massachusetts, unveiled his 46th annual list of 10 "worst toys" Tuesday at Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston.
Joan Siff, president of the non-profit organization, said that many of the toys on the list presented risks of suffocation, vision loss and other safety risks, year after year, despite efforts of the group.
Siff advised parents to make "defensive" purchases and not be lulled into a false sense of security because a toy is made by a known brand or sold to an established retailer. A child is treated in an American emergency room every three minutes for a toy-related injury, according to the National Children's Hospital's Injury Research and Research Center.
A Cabbage Patch Kids Ballerina doll featured on this year's list, for example, is for children ages two and up, but includes a detachable tutu and a choking hazard headband, said James Swartz, trial attorney who performs the duties of WATCH director.
A slender mallet delivered with VTech's caterpillar-shaped electronic xylophone, a toy made for children as early as the age of 18 months, is another similar choking threat, he said.
Other toys on the list included a Nerf pistol that fires floppy disks, a "pedestrian rocket" that launches foam projectiles over 200 feet in the air and a plastic "cut fruit" set. The cutting set, which includes a rigid plastic toy knife, is designed for children over 2 years old.
But the Toy Association, a professional group representing most of the named toy makers this year, is complaining that the list was biased, inaccurate and "scary unnecessarily" for parents. The association said that many of the dangers brought to light by W.A.T.C.H. are clearly stated in the product's packaging and instructions. He also stated that only two products on the non-profit association's "worst toys" list had been recalled, and that these two products had already been withdrawn before W.A.T.C.H. published his list.
Swartz has listed dozens of toys recalled or removed from retail shelves from the early 2000s to the 1970s, thanks in part to the group's efforts.
And he said that providing detailed warning labels "does not exempt" toy manufacturers from the need to simply design safer items. "They are trying to shift responsibility to parents and consumers," said Swartz. "They are really escaping their responsibilities."
Swartz has highlighted Hasbro's retractable plastic claws for Marvel's Black Panther, an item on this year's list. Toy gloves are warned that they should not be used to hit or hit people.
"When you call that a claw," he says, "there is probably one thing that a kid will do with this claw."
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