Doing its best to strike fear into the hearts of parents, the Public Interest Research Group has released its 25th annual list of deadly toys. Among the allegedly dangerous products are a Dora the Explorer backpack the group says contains phthalates, plastic handcuffs that supposedly contain antimony and a Big Bang Rocket that might cause hearing loss.
“They simply manipulate the feelings of parents,” fumes ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “How does a parent buy toys for their kids? Do they bring a toxicologist with them?”
“As predictable as Santa coming with the Thanksgiving parade, activist groups exploiting fear of chemicals try to gain publicity by scaring parents about hypothetical risks of chemicals in toys,” says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “This time it’s PIRG, next week it will be EWG...can NRDC be far behind? When will we learn to ignore or ridicule these extremists?”