Are older Fisher Price Toys safe??
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Anonymous
Mty parents have the full set from the 1970s. My three year old freakin loves to play with them when we visit. They are small as are the original weeble wobbles my parents also have. I don't worry about it. She is always playing with an older cousin etc. She is past that stage of randomly putting stuff in her mouth too. As for the poster who said to worry about things made in China, I agree but also learned that a lot of Melissa and Doug toys are made in China so it can be really difficutl to avoid. |
Anonymous
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The ones from the 70s are less likely to have lead paint that the new ones. The dangers of lead paint for children have been recognized since before ww2. No lead paint has been used in kids toys in any country that cares about safety standards in any generations.
The Chinese factory system does not have good safeguards and plant managers are under tremendous pressure to increase production while cutting costs, without a ton of regulatory oversight or tort liability. That's why you have these massive recalls when lead paint is discovered in some factory that big toy manufacturers used for subcontracting. It was a huge problem 5 to 10 years ago, and I would probably be most nervous about toys from that era and check the old recall notices very carefully. For the old FP toys, th biggest danger is choking--either because the parts are too small, or because the plastic is dessicated and liable to break, thus creating a choking hazard. Monitor usage and exercise good judgment. I wish FP would still make toys like they used to--the new little people line is not nearly as nice! |
Anonymous
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I absolutely love my old Playskool People toys, and it's one of my greatest joys of motherhood to see my son playing with my old Fisher Price Playskool People (Little People) camper.
He's 2.5 and of all the toys he has, this toy set is the one were he does the vast majority of his imaginative play, where the talks as the people and has them have conversations with each other and go on sustained "stories" together. So, I was actually planning to get the Playskool People garage off eBay for Christmas, and then I read about the lead in the yellow plastic on it here (in response to this post, I did some Googling): http://www.rtkenvironmental.com/lead/lead-in-toys-every-parent-needs-to-know/ So my question would be...the danger with lead paint is actually in ingesting the dust in the paint particles; that's how it gets into your bloodstream. How would lead in the yellow plastic get into a child's bloodstream? (Presuming that the child is not eating the plastic.) I'm not someone who simplistically says, "Hey, I survived the 70's with no seat belts, so my kid doesn't need them." But I'm really skeptical about the real risk involved in letting a child play with these toys. Right now, absent more information, I think the benefits are well worth a tiny risk. (Just as I let my 2.5 year old climb a rope ladder up to his tree house, supervised.) |
Anonymous
"here" Maybe you should have chewed on a few less lead-painted toys. |
Anonymous
| Is the fisher price family play farm safe |
Anonymous
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My parents kept the FP houses, people, cars, etc. from when I was little -1970s.
Despite the years of my little hands playing with it, all the pieces are in really really really good shape. No paint chips, not fading, the house/cars/merry go round, etc. are in great condition. They were made in the USA. That's the difference. My kids love playing with it and I'm not about to stop them. Just like with any toy, the kids are beyond sticking them in their mouth so I don't worry about choking or paint flecks (assuming the worst that lead paint hadn't been phased out). Worst case there is lead paint, it's so minute that it's insignificant and that's assuming it chips off. I'd be more worried about lead in DCPS water, not FP from 1970. |
Anonymous
If it's from the 70s, there's a good chance it was made in the USA. |
Anonymous
You should contact Fisher Price. |
Anonymous
If they are from the 70s, they probably weren't made in China. |
Anonymous
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The toys from the 70s are less likely to contain lead, as they were made in America and the dangers of lead paint to children have been well known in America since before the Second World War. (Wall paint was a slightly different issue, as people didn't understand the danger of flaking and peeling paint until later.).
The lead paint in toys problem largely arises from importation of toys from countries with very lax regulations, where producers care more about profits than child safety. They are a total choking hazard. But my 5 and 8 year old play with my old Little People sets. I wish FP still made sets like they did back then. The new ones stink. |
Anonymous
| http://leadsafeamerica.org/category/fisher-price/ for more information about the lead-levels in vintage Fisher Price toys. |
Anonymous
| Toys from the 1970s and some 80s are definitely toxic. Look up vintage fisher price toys and lead and you’ll find a correlation. One of them was 6,000+ parts per million and the unsafe level is 90 ppm! I so hate to ditch my vintage sets, but I’m not risking my child’s development and neither should you! |
Anonymous
| No way! FP Little People from the 70s-80s have high lead. It isn't just the plastic- the plastic is painted too. Throw that stuff in the garbage |
Anonymous
| They didn't kill or hurt me, my siblings or my friends. I am guessing your kids will be fine. |