Country of Origin: Turnertoys selections made in America and other countries

Turnertoys™ Selections
Country of Origin/Level of Concern
Safety of Toys manufactured in America and other nations
Is it Safe? Understanding toy safety List of Turnertoys products made in USA Using lead test kits

Turnertoys is working hard to respond to consumer concerns about lead and similar hazards in toys, especially those made in China. (Read our in-depth article on the real nature of the hazard, how you can tell safe from not-so-safe toys, and how we are approaching it.) We stress that there are no safety-related reasons to throw out all Chinese-made toys. Rather, we are trying to help parents make informed decisions about which toys are likely to present a hazard, and which are not. The only reasons to discard all imported toys or restrict buying to USA products are economic or ideological. We have some response from parents who tell us they they are getting rid of any of their children's toys made in China and replacing them with American-made products or with nothing, i.e., doing without. Some have said they would buy old American toys from yard sales. We must point out that older toys made in the USA or anywhere are more likely to have been made with lead paint or even entirely from a lead alloy, in the case of cast metal toys. Stringent regulation of toy safety is relatively recent in the United States and Europe, and the standards are still evolving. The older the toy, the more likely it contains some lead. We list on this page our toys by product or by category, with country of origin, our estimate of any threat they may pose to children, and our reasoning. If you have any questions about specific products, please email me at ed@turnertoys.com . We can respond to questions better if you can refrain from phoning with questions on this topic. Ed Loewenton 8/17/07
Toy Category	Items	Country of Origin	Level of Concern & Reasons (See listing at end of this table)
Infant	My Very Own® Rattle	USA	None 1; Made by Turnertoys in our own shop
Blocks	Alphabet, unit (T5, T10, individual)	USA	None 1 and/or 7
Blocks	Unit (other), rainbow, architecture, hollow	China or Thailand	None 1, 4
Blocks	Storybook, Action Blocks & Accessories	Germany	None 1 and/or 2, 3, 5
Trains	All TC Timber trains and accesories	USA, Germany	None 2, 5
Traditional wood toys	stitching block, Toddler's top Tops: wood, Blizzard, Sidewinder	China	None or extremely low 1 and/or 5
Traditional wood toys	Jacobs Ladder (original), RoyToy Log sets	USA	1, 5, 7
Spinning (toss) tops	Trompo Tops	USA	None 1
Puzzles	Jumbo	Holland	None 2, 3
Puzzles	PDI, Haba	China	None or extremely low 5
Vehicles	Working Rigs toys construction vehicles	China	None 1, 3
Dollhouses	All items We have safety documentation on file	Thailand	None or extremely low 4, 6
Dollhouse Furniture	All items	Thailand	1, 4
American Classics	Slinky, Gyroscope Roytoy Log Sets, YoYo's	USA	None 1 and/or 6 and/or 7
Wood Rocking toys	Airplane, boat, train, motorcycle, speedboat (natural wood)	China	None or extremely low 1
Wood Rocking toys	Fire engine tractor, cabriolet, tractor, horse (Painted)	China	Low: 6
Wood Rocking toys	Vermont Dory Rocking boat	USA	None 6, 7
Furniture/Kitchens	All Little Colorado Play kitchen items & Table/chair sets (Furniture, Kitchens p.2) Paint safety documents on file	USA	None 6, 7; 1 (natural wood items)
Furniture/Kitchens, Activity furniture	Guidecraft painted items: table/chair sets, desks, kitchens, room acessories, workbench & other activity items	China or Thailand	Low: 6 (items with paint) None: 1 (natural wood items)
Activity furniture	Easel, Art Table	USA	None 1, 6
Sleds, wagons	More expensive models	USA	None 1, 6, 7
Sleds, wagons	lower priced models	China	None 1, 6
Pedal Cars	All except Kettler	China	Unknown 8
Kettler Pedal Toys: cars, tricycles, other items	All Kettler Products except some acessories listed as made in China See product pages	Germany	None 1, 2, 3
Balance Bike	Scootercycle™	China	None 1
Flying Toys	Balsa model airplanes, kits, etc. - all items	USA	None 1, 2
Flying Toys	Kites, Flying Bird, plastic items & accessories, Hotshots paper planes	China	None 1, 2; 5 (Hotshots)
Flying Toys	Whitewings gliders	Japan	None or extremely low 1, 4
Flying Toys	Titan High Performance wind-up plane	Germany	2, 3
Woodkins dress-up dolls	All items	China	None or extremely low 5
Anything we didn't list? Let us know at contact@turnertoys.com
List of Reasons (not necessarily in rank order of importance) for stated Level of Concern (estimated probability of toxicity hazard): 1: No materials used that might present a toxicity hazard. Only products that are dyed, painted, or otherwise colored, contain cheap cast metal parts, or are made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastics are associated with any reasonable probability of heavy metal (lead, etc) toxicity. Lacquered or unfinished wood and polyethylene or polypropylene plastics, steel, aluminum, baked powder coatings, are examples of toy materials that have a low to null probability of presenting a toxicity hazard. 2. Made in Germany or other European Union country which requires CE certification, a very stringent standard that requires thorough, independent laboratory testing. In addition, there have been no reports of lead in toys coming from these nations. Also includes USA manufacturers who are personally known to us, who adhere to U.S. CPSC/ASTM standards.. 3. CE Certified (see above). 4. Made in other nations (Japan, Thailand, for example) with well-established, modern, technically sophisticated toy industries, and no recall history due to lead or other toxic content. 5. Paints, plastic materials, etc., tested by Turnertoys. How we are testing, what the results mean 6. Manufacturer/importer is currently having products or finishes tested by independent laboratory, or has done so recently and has test results available, or we have test results on file; or USA manufacturers who are personally known to us, who adhere to U.S. CPSC/ASTM standards. 3/15/2008: Guidecraft items (imported painted furniture, rocking toys) now has a comprehensive batch testing program in place: Paint is lab tested in China for each purchase order, verified by sample testing of finished toys when they arrive in the U.S. 7. American Manufacturer uses American-made finishes with published ingredients available to Turnertoys; no toxic components. 8. Importer states that item has been tested, testing is underway, or that they have representatives periodically inspecting process, have had testing done in the past, specficies paint formula, or similar, but does not supply documentation. Top of this page
We suggest that the available lead test kits are one tool that can be used effectively in the effort to keep kids safe, if used according to all manufacturer's directions, and interpreted conservatively. False positives are unlikely; if the swab turns color, lead is present in quantities of concern. False negatives are possible, since the test results using the swab kits do not absolutely rule out the presence of any lead. However, in general lead will either be present in detectable quantities, or present only in trace amounts as contaminants, not as intentionally added pigments or stabilizers. Thus, a negative result can be interpreted with reasonable reliability. Furthermore, sensitivity of the swab-type home kits can be increased by swabbing a larger surface area, thus exposing the swab to more lead if any is present. Recently we started testing surfaces of our painted toys for the presence of lead, regardless of the country of origin. We are using LeadCheck® Professional Test Kits, made by Hybrivet Systems (Natick, MA: 800-262-5323 / http://www.leadcheck.com ). These tests indicate the presence of lead in surfaces with a concentration of more than 2µ (micrograms) per 1 cm² surface area. We score the painted surface down to the substrate to expose as much of the coating as possible, so we are not just testing the exposed surface. This is a qualitative test that does not rule out the presence of lead in lower concentrations. Any positive result using this test indicates a toy clearly not suitable for children of any age. Admittedly, it is very difficult to translate results in content per unit surface area into numbers relevant to known health effects in children, which are calibrated in micrograms (µ) per deciliter (dl) of blood. 10µ/dl is considered a very rigorous standard of safety; blood levels below this are regarded by almost all scientists as not of concern. However, neither the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nor the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) have been helpful in providing a translation formula from surface concentration to blood level, and in fact, it may not be so easy. Surface lead (which our tests detect) indicates only available lead, not ingested lead, which will necessarily be a much smaller amount, depending on frequency, duration, and manner in which the child handles the toy. A toy not placed in the mouth is much less of a hazard than one that is. Furthermore, a toy in which lead is bound in a paint film will release it at a rate slower than our testing indicates, since we scratch the surface in order to release as much as possible. In PVC toys, on the other hand, lead, if present, and other substances of concern, are emitted steadily by the plastic. Again, Turnertoys does not sell toys made with PVC. Top of this page