By: Chris Brubaker

When I was a kid the rules for toys were no small parts, hard objects, or sharp pointy things. Today, parents have so much more to worry about. With so many toys imported from other countries and the variable standards of safety, it’s no wonder potentially harmful toys are popping up. From easily dislodged parts, to toxins ranging from Lead and GHB; toys are being recalled by the millions. With no government intervention insight, consumer advocacy groups are arming themselves with knowledge.

Two such groups are MomsRising.org and Heathlytoys.org collaborating to keep parents informed of potentially harmful toys. The two groups have developed a text-messaging program that allows parents to type in a toys name to find its toxicity level. Texting “HealthyToys [product name]” to 41411 will return a low, medium, or high rating on toxic chemicals in the toy. The system also allows you to search a particular retailer like Wal-Mart or Target informing you of how many toys are highly toxic and which ones are the lowest (ex. “HealthyToys low Target”). If you don’t know a toys name you can also search a type of toy or category (ex. “HealthyToys low doll”).

The two groups created the program to allow parents or relatives shopping for a child this holiday season to be able to find information on the go. Heathlytoys.org has so far tested 1,200 toys, and allows consumers to submit other products they would like to see tested.

Picking out that perfect gift for a child has become a lot harder these days, but groups like MomsRising.org and Healthytoys.org are working to make it easier.

Denver Real Estate