Choosing Safer Products: Toys

For information on the safety of specific products, explore HealthyToys.org: A Consumer Action Guide to Chemicals in Toys, which contains a searchable database of about 1,500 toys and other children's products.

General guidelines for choosing safer toys:

• Avoid toys that list vinyl/PVC as ingredients. Soft plastic toys such as bath toys, squeeze toys, and dolls are commonly made of vinyl. If you’re not sure if a toy contains vinyl/PVC, try looking it up on www.HealthyToys.org.  If you don’t see it there, contact the manufacturer or consider an alternative. 

• Choose plastic-free toys when possible.  Examples include:

• unpainted wooden toys such as figures, vehicles, teethers, and rattles

• cloth dolls

• plush toys

• games and puzzles made of paper

• Avoid children's metal jewelry and toys with small pieces, particularly magnetic pieces.

• Check whether any toys already at home have been recalled and return any you have to the manufacturer.

Learn more:

• HealthyToys.org: A Consumer Action Guide to Chemicals in Toys

• U.S. Public Interest Research Group: Trouble in Toyland: The 22nd Annual Survey of Toy Safety
  

• FastFacts: PVC and Other Plastics

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