As a parent, few things bring more joy than seeing your child enthralled in play. Yet lurking behind some cherished playthings of years past lay serious dangers that turned childhood wonder into parent’s nightmares.
According to injury surveillance systems, an estimated 240,000 toy-related injuries are treated yearly in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. Falls and lacerations make up the majority, but more severe hazards account for over 10% – demonstrating that toy dangers are no trivial matter.
While toy safety has come a long way with modern regulations and oversight, hard-learned lessons of the past lurk in our disturbing history of hazardous toy recalls and bans. As we’ll see, what was originally seen as harmless fun often brought unexpected threats that forever changed the lives of far too many children.
1920s-1930s: An Unregulated Age
During the interwar period, toys consisted of whatever households could craft from available materials, or what emerging toy makers conceived without safety guidelines. With the benefit of hindsight, disasters were inevitable…
Rag Dolls – Stuffed with highly flammable celluloid and cotton rags, these handmade dolls ignited from the smallest ember. Roughly 1,500 house fires a year in the 1930s were traced to the dolls, killing dozens and injuring hundreds more.
Lawn Darts – Marketed as an outdoor game for adults in the 1950s-60s, the hefty one foot metal darts tipped with sharp points led to 6,100 emergency room visits. With enough force to puncture skulls, they killed at least three children who were struck in the head, and over 20 more deaths would follow before their 1988 nationwide ban.
Gilbert Chemistry Sets – Among the earliest toy chemistry sets sold in the 1920s, they contained potassium permanganate and sulfuric acid amongst the beakers and burners, posing explosion and corrosion dangers. The volatile chemicals led to severe burns or poisoning in many cases, and even childhood deaths like 10 year old Sherwin Gillespie – killed by a chemical fire in 1934 using his Gilbert set.
Kite Strings – Using metals and highly conductive carbonized twine, popular kite strings caused the deaths of dozens of people between 1925 to 1935 when they fell across electric lines. Many being children clutching kite reels while walking fields and streets.
Without national safety oversight of toys, lack of manufacturer responsibility and predictable childhood behavior combined into tragic yet preventable consequences again and again.
Mid-20th Century: Safety Roulette
Following World War II’s end and a booming post-war economy, the 1940s-60s brought an expansion of toy manufacturers and offerings. While specialty toys appealed to childhood curiosity and adventure, their impacts revealed glaring safety gaps.
Clackers – Also known as Ker-Bangers and Klackers, these 1970s toys sent hard acrylic glass balls swinging on a string between two handles. As the swinging balls gained momentum, they would “clack” together loudly. However, shards from shattered acrylic easily caused lacerations and eye injuries. Over 2.5 million were quickly recalled in 1976 after 47 filed complaints.
Battlestar Galactica Missile Firing Viper Spacecraft Toy (1979) – Touted as the “most authentic battling spaceship ever created”, firing plastic missiles led to 47 cases of the projectiles hitting children and adults in the face and mouth, resulting in injuries and embedded choking hazard potential.
Once again, manufacturers rushed untested products to market without considering the real-world ways children would actually play with them.
And gimmicky scientific toys harbouring caustic chemicals continued causing severe burns or poisoning:
-
Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (1951-1952) – Containing four types of uranium ore samples, it demonstrated Geiger counter detection by placing substances next to a radiation-emitting electron tube wand connected to the Geiger counter. More than 100,000 sold in its first year before an outcry over giving radioactive materials to children.
-
Atomic Energy Educational Set (1950s) – Radioactive ore samples caused extensive chemical contamination to homes when opened or fractured.
After rising public outrage over unpoliced toy dangers in the 1960s from groups like the Committee on Nuclear Information, the lack of legal accountability for safety threats finally changed with a monumental court case.
1970s: Accountability Arrives
In 1972, 10-year-old Frank Patterson nearly choked to death on a broken piece of a *”Uncle Sam Bank” – a patriotic toy bank featuring a red, white and blue cylinder with a moveable “Uncle Sam” figure on top.
When one of the grey plastic figures broke off and lodged in Frank‘s throat, his mother Emma Patterson sprang into action, manually clearing his airway while racing him to the hospital.
After Frank recovered, his parents brought legal action against Louis Marx & Company – the fourth largest toymaker globally at the time. The judge‘s decision set a precedent that companies can be held liable for defective product designs if they don‘t take safety precautions known at the time of production.
This paved the way for the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) creation in 1973 to oversee U.S. product safety, including introducing mandatory toy safety standards.
With this new oversight capability limiting companies’ ability to shirk responsibility for flawed toys, an influx of modern recalls and restrictions ensued:
- Jarts lawn darts – Banned in 1988 after up to $35 million in lawsuit settlements.
- Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warriors projectile toys – Recalled over 2 million sets in 1979.
- Clackers – Recalled in 1976 along with existing stock removals from store shelves.
By the late 1970s, the Consumer Product Safety Commission had recalled 2.2 million dangerous products, proving its worth as public safeguard.
Modern Era (1980s+): Tighter Control
In the nearly 50 years since the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began more rigorous regulation of toy safety, their efforts combating hazardous toys have prevented countless deaths and injuries.
Thanks to modern safeguards like required toy testing, dedicated safety criteria, prominent warning labels, acceptable chemicals listings, and manufacturer liability, the most dangerous vintage-era toys have faded into history.
Yet modern life’s complexity still enables some threats to occasionally slip through. Complex supply chains can obscure ingredient sourcing while innovators race to market with new materials. And mass manufacturing scale enables isolated issues to rapidly escalate before catching defects.
In more recent decades, several high-profile hazardous toy cases have prompted major consumer alerts and reform efforts:
-
CSI Fingerprint Examination Kits (2000s) – Contained asbestos fibers, requiring 300,000 kit recalls.
-
Magnetix Magnetic Building Sets (2006) – Led to 1,500 magnet ingestion cases. Standards now limit magnet strength in children’s products.
-
Aqua Dots (2007) – Beads promoting creativity contained a chemical coating that converted to “date rape” drug GHB when ingested, leading to two life-threatening hospital cases. Manufacturer agreed to $1.5 million penalty.
-
Buckyballs Magnet Sets (2012) – The maker fought the CPSC in court over magnet ball ingestion deaths until finally relenting to discontinue them following over two dozen surgeries removing segments from children’s digestive tracts.
So while safety has improved markedly since the precarious early decades of toys, modern life’s pace and globalized markets introduce new angles needing awareness. Toy-related deaths have declined substantially from 1990-2011 according to CPSC data:
| Year | Toy-Related Deaths |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 19 |
| 1991 | 16 |
| 1992 | 12 |
| 1993 | 13 |
| 1994 | 11 |
| 1995 | 17 |
| 1996 | 13 |
| 1997 | 12 |
| 1998 | 10 |
| 1999 | 9 |
| 2000 | 13 |
| 2001 | 11 |
| 2002 | 9 |
| 2003 | 7 |
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2006 | 5 |
| 2007 | 8 |
| 2008 | 9 |
| 2009 | 11 |
| 2010 | 10 |
| 2011 | 11 |
Where Hazards Lurk: Breaking Down Toy Dangers
Reviewing toy calamities through the years brings some clear dangerous patterns to light:
Projectiles
Toys like darts, rockets, and semi-safe projectile shooters have accounted for some of the most severe eye injuries and childhood deaths due to poor supervision and misuse. While regulations require foam tips and lower velocity caps, home modifications by parents void safety limits. Over 2,300 toy gun injuries related to projectiles were reported in 2018 alone according to CPSC data.
Most Dangerous Offenders:
- Lawn Darts
- Airsoft Guns
- BB Guns
- Bow and Arrows
Choking and Aspiration
According to a 2010 study of emergency admissions, children under age three face the highest risk of choking on small toys or toy parts – accounting for over 80% of such cases. Balls, blocks, toy jewelry, and small detached pieces commonly required surgical removal, with a 9% mortality rate amongst those cases.
Most Dangerous Offenders:
- Defective Toy Cars
- Building Block Sets
- Balloons
- Balls
Chemical and Ingestion
Ingesting household chemicals or toxins via curiosity or unsecured products has posed perils to children for decades. And the long history of caustic chemistry sets has now given way to modern battery leakage and craft toy chemicals requiring acute warnings.
Most Dangerous Offenders:
- Button Batteries
- Magnetic Balls/Cubes
- Modeling Compounds
- Chalk
- Craft Kits
- Science Kits
Flammability
Highly flammable toys and components have triggered countless severe burns and house fires. While now strictly controlled, homemade toys and decorative accessories often still use dangerous soft plastics, foams, or fabrics.
Most Dangerous Offenders:
- Costumes
- Masks
- Dolls
- Stuffed Animals
- Plastic Weapons
Reviewing the shocking injuries of bygone toy eras, we have government regulation to thank for no longer considering these hazards as inevitable collateral damage acceptable in exchange for profits.
Yet while mandatory safety rules now limit the most egregious risks, no system is perfect. The ultimate responsibility lies with caring parents and conscientious citizens. We must continue pushing manufacturers to prioritize safety over convenient designs or marginal savings.
Beyond assumed compliance, satisfying your own safety concerns remains the only guaranteed protection against potential toy hazards. So reference the safety guidelines below when purchasing toys:
[Infographic: Toy Safety Tips]
- Choose age-appropriate toys to minimize small parts and projectiles amongst little kids.
- Read all warnings and instructions before purchase and supervision.
- Check online with SaferProducts.gov for any recalls or complaints.
- Avoid modifications like detachable accessories that enable choking hazards.
- Ensure all chemistry, craft, and science kits secure caustic contents away from children.
- Frequently inspect toy condition and discard at any sign of damage exposing hazards.
- Store riding toys out of pathways to avoid blunt force injuries from falls.
- Secure toy weapons, launchers, and projectiles when not actively supervised.
While staying vigilant may sound tedious compared to the magic of childhood play, it guarantees less anguish than any parent should endure.
For when companies fall short, the lasting impacts make our extra care worth the effort. Our children deserve nothing less.