There has been a LOT of talk lately about the safety testing of toys and what needs to be performed. A lot of the responsibility is placed on the manufacturer of the toy as it should be, however, the company that is actually giving away the toy, should also consider doing their own independent testing in order to guarantee the results provided are accurate.

Lead is currently in the mind of many consumers as they look into toys in order to promote their kids meals during restaurant visits. While lead is one of the many elements that plastic and paints are tested for content, there are many other elements that fit the criteria of "heavy metals" which should also be considered. These elements are:
- Arsenic
- Barium
- Cadmium
- Chromium,
- Mercury
- Antimony
- Selenium

Any and all of these heavy metals (as per ASTM and EN71 standards) could cause a threat to kids in ingested in large amounts so these organizations have set limits of contents which are covered during "heavy metals examination" or during "migration of certain elements" testings.

Most of these metals allowance of content is tested based on mg (miligrams) per kg (kilogram). While the allowances are extremely small, research has proven that it does not take a whole lot of these elements to cause a risk in the health of kids.

Let's talk about lead (Pb). EN71 regulations allow a maximum limit of 90 mg/kg of this heavy metal during the Migration of Certain Elements test. Usually, this test is performed via Atomic Absorption or via Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Spectrometry. Without going into technical data, both of these media are extremely accurate at yielding the results we seek when testing toys. Keep in mind this CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be confused with the Total Lead Content as per CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) which talks about "ban of lead-containing paint". The CFR dictates thatn the maximum allowable limit is 600mg/kg.

So what is the main difference between the Total Lead Content and the Soluble Lead or "migration" of this element?

To put it in simple terms, the total content is pretty much that. It deals with the total lead content in that given paint or material. As far as the soluble lead or the lead that could migrate, this portion of the test has to do with the amount of lead that could actually migrate or be passed on from a given product to a human. This is the most important portion of the test.

Typically, if a given paint has lead, it WILL have lead. What you will find in test results are that the contents of lead and/or other metals, but specifically lead, are either VERY small or EXTREMELY high.

These tests range from US$ 500 to US$ 2,000 just for the heavy metals portion and it all depends on how many samples you are testing, the amount of intervals during testing and other variables that could have an impact on the overall costs. Pricing, like in many industries, varies depending on how much business do you do with a given safety testing lab. The more testing you do, the better discounts you will get so it pays off to do business with companies that have a lot of offerings and are well known in the industry.

I will try to touch base and information on many other testings that are performed for children's products. We will discuss mechanical hazards in a couple of weeks.