Danger! Children's Toy Recalls - How to Find Recalls, and What to Do

Free from school life for a week, post-holiday bliss for children means being able to enjoy their new goodies. Here are some tips on how to make sure that your children’s toys are safe.




Recall Lists – Find Recalled Toys







Before the holiday season is even well underway, the toy recall lists start to grow. There is no other time of year when toy manufacturers can expect the sales they receive during the holidays – but the mass amounts of people buying their products also means that if there’s a problem with a particular toy, they must act fast to make sure that there aren’t hundreds of children hurt.




Luckily, there is help. Take just a few minutes to jot down what toys your children have received, and then hit the following websites. If something is potentially dangerous, you’ll find out quickly here and breathe a bit easier.




US Consumer Product Safety Commission – Maintained by the federal government, you can search these archives clear back to 1975 (though you probably wouldn’t want to!). http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html





Holiday
Toy Recall Checklist - Also maintained by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, this page will keep you up to date with all the toys that have been recalled specifically through the holiday season. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml03/03044.html




Live and Learn – This site provides an easy-to-use toy recall list that is broken down by the month. http://www.liveandlearn.com/recalls.html







Recalled Toys – What to Do







When you discover that one of the toys your children’s been playing with has been recalled, take a breath and read the following tips so that you know what to do next.




First, check the recall listing. For example, this recall was issued in 2003: