Top Ten Dangerous Toys for 2016

When looking for the “latest and greatest” toy for the younger members on your holiday gift list, remember to keep safety in mind as well. Each holiday season, World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.), releases its list of Top Ten Most Dangerous Toys, a consumer tool for parents and those shopping for children’s gifts.

W.A.T.C.H. is a Massachusetts-based non-profit founded to educate the public about safety issues involving children’s products, toys, furniture, and recreational equipment, and to stop preventable injuries and deaths due to dangerous toys and children’s items.

Some may question the necessity of such an advocacy group, but most people are unaware toy manufacturers do not have the same pre-market safety testing requirements of their products, as do food and drugs. The toy industry itself earns $70 billion-dollars annually worldwide, with 65% of toys sales occurring during the holiday season.

Hazards from toys include, among other things, choking hazards for younger children, eye and impact injuries from projectiles and “play” weapons, and laceration and stabbing injuries from pointed toys. “Due to poor design, manufacturing and marketing practices, there are toys available for purchase today with the potential to lead to serious injury and even death,” according to W.A.T.C.H. In fact, a child in the United States seeks emergency room treatment every 3 minutes for injuries from a toy.

The W.A.T.C.H. list of the Top Ten Most Dangerous Toys for 2016 includes:

1. Peppa Pig’s Muddy Puddles Family – choking hazards for younger children from small parts, and inconsistent warnings on packaging labels.
2. Kids Time Baby Children’s Elephant Pillow – suffocation hazard for infants; inadequate warning of suffocation hazard and no age recommendation.
3. Slimeball Slinger – eye injury hazard from slimeball projectile.
4. Banzai Bump N’ Bounce Body Bumpers – impact injury hazard; package insert recommends protective equipment for heads, elbows, knees, etc., but does not provide any of the recommended safety equipment.
5. Nerf Rival Apollo XV-700 Blaster – eye injury hazard, inadequate warning of same. Packaging depicts children “battling” each other with the blasters and wearing eye masks, but none are provided.
6. The Good Dinosaur Galloping Butch – puncture injury risk but no warning; there is an age warning recommending 3+ years of age and older due to a swallowing hazard from small parts, but no warning of puncture risk from hard plastic pointy tail on the dinosaur toy.
7. Peppy Pups – potential for strangulation injuries from 31” cord, but no warnings.
8. Flying Heroes Superman Launcher – eye and facial injury hazard.
9. Baby Magic Feed and Play Baby – recommended for children ages 2+, this toy includes a small hard plastic spoon for feeding “baby” which can become a choking, suffocation or ingestion hazard.
10. Warcraft Doomhammer – this heavy, hard plastic hammer will foreseeably be used to act out “war” so there is a real possibility of blunt force injuries, but no warning.

A more detailed outline and a picture of the top ten dangerous toys included in the 2016 W.A.T.C.H. list can be found here: https://toysafety.org/portfolio_category/2016-10-worst-toys/

Help ensure happy holiday memories by keeping safety at the top of your gift list!