 Welcome to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's first Google Plus Hangout. With Christmas just days away, many people are shopping for toys for their children, their grandchildren, nieces and nephews. And today at our first Google Plus Hangout, we are going to talk about toy safety. I'm the moderator, Patty Davis. Our expert engineer, John Masal, will explain some toy testing scenarios and talk about toy hazards to look for. How are you John? CPSC spokeswoman Nikki Fleming has nearly two decades of experience talking about toy safety. And she will take general toy shopping, recall and injury questions. Hello everyone. I invite you to send your questions to us via Twitter or Google Plus using the Ask CPSC hashtag or CPSC's Google Plus Hangout event page. And we will ask your questions during our Hangout. Nikki, let's start with you. I think that a question that is on consumers' minds is whether toys are safer these days than they have been even in the recent past. Well, thank you Patty. And yes, I have good news for parents. Toys are safer than ever. CPSC has implemented a global toy safety system. And what that really means for consumers is that toys are required to go through third-party mandatory testing before being sold. So we have the lowest lead and phthalate limits in the world. Also, we work cooperatively with U.S. Customs to stop toys at shipments and seizures prior to ever making it on store shelves. In addition, CPSC, in fact, the good news is that recalls are down and port seizures are actually up. CPSC has recalled 31 toys in fiscal year 2013, and that's way down from previous years. In 2008, we had 172 toys that were actually recalled then. We've also stopped over 9.8 million units of toys, again, from ever-reaching store shelves. So it sounds like a lot of reassuring news for parents and for caregivers as they're out shopping this holiday season. But with all that good news, let's talk a little bit about the statistics. How many deaths and injuries are connected with toys? What's number one? Yes, we've had 11 toy-related deaths reported in 2012. The leading cause of toy-related deaths has been associated with ride-on toys. Specifically, we had four children who rode tricycles into swimming pools and were found in the swimming pools with their tricycle. Also, an additional one child also toppled over on their tricycle and hit their head and actually died from that injury as well. So the majority of the toy-related injuries were from riding toys. And the number one tip I can give parents would be to make sure you're including safety gear when it comes to your riding toys. And also, supervision is key at this point. And as a parent, I totally understand it's difficult to get the kids to wear their helmets. I have some examples here of how they've changed the design and elements of different types of helmets. They're in cool designs now, so we know everyone wants to be cool. Parents can also be great role models for their kids by wearing helmets themselves when they ride their bicycles as well. You know, that's true. Sometimes the hardest part really is getting the parents to wear them because if the parents wear them, the kids will wear them as well. That's a really good point. Let's move on to choking hazards for children. Let's bring in John Masal. He is our CPSC engineer to talk about this issue. John, really, what should parents look for on a toy to help guide them avoid choking hazards? Well, I get this question from friends and family a lot, especially around the holidays. But really, if it looks terrible, it probably is. There's no replacement for common sense. But as far as most of the hazards that come through my lab that I'm looking forward and trying to screen out, I'm looking mostly for small parts and other choking hazards. The way that we define a choking hazard is with this cylinder here, the small parts tube. A lot of people use a toilet paper tube as sort of your frame of reference as your bouncing off point. But this is specifically designed to screen out known choking hazards. And one of the ways that we'll test the choking hazard is just as simple as this. So we'll destroy a toy in the toy lab and if it produces a small part that fits by its own weight beneath the top level of the cylinder, that's a small part. So use and abuse, how does that fit in and how do you test for that? Well, actually, so there's a whole team of people that sort of see the product at each step of the testing process. And so we have psychologists that actually determine the play value of a toy and give it our own internal age grade, which we then compare with what was on the packaging. And based on the age grading, we'll say kids 0 to 18 months, we'll actually drop a toy just repeatedly 10 times from about the height of a high chair. So we take into account the play value, what type of kid was going to want to play with it, and what they will then do to that toy. So we'll just break the toys. Pretty fun. All right, Nikki, let's go back to you. Are we seeing any emerging hazards with toys? Yes. CPSC is very concerned about high powered magnets. There's a serious safety risk associated with high powered magnets. And for all of those people watching who may not know what a high powered magnet looks like, they're very tiny. And the hazard is that if two or more are swallowed, they can actually reconnect. The connection, the magnetic strength is very strong. It can reconnect in the intestines and actually perforate the intestines. It actually requires surgery to remove the magnets. So again, very serious hazard. And in fact, CPSC is aware of 1,700 emergency room treated injuries associated with these high powered magnets. And CPSC is also working to strengthen standards associated with high powered magnets as well. And Nikki, are we talking really young kids here who are most vulnerable or are there other ages as well? These magnets have been especially popular and we've actually created a magnet safety video attributed to teens. We're seeing them use them as body piercings basically. You put one magnet on the outside of your nose and one on the interior, or as a tongue piercing is another popular method that maybe a teen might use again when you accidentally ingest that magnet. Two or more swallowed can then become reconnected in your intestines again, very serious. So it's all ages. John, can you tell us how you go about testing magnets? So we determine how dangerous a magnet is based on its flux index. And that's a somewhat made up number. It's a combination of two numbers that we can measure. And then we compare that combination against known hazards on the spectrum of hazards. And we have an established threshold of what that number means. So the way that we actually do it is fairly, fairly simple. So this tool right here is called a Gauss Meter. And it measures the strength of the magnet. And it's a pretty simple wand. So we'll take this number that then comes out, compare it with the size. And the combination of super small and super strong results in a failure. And that's a hazardous magnet. So John, is it more the small powerful magnets as opposed to the refrigerator type magnets that are of concern? Oh, absolutely. That's exactly correct. All right. John, let's move on to noise hazards. What are you looking for when you test a toy for a noise hazard? And what is of concern? Well, the biggest concern that I've found almost anecdotally, but also one of the things that we look for the most is a close to ear toy. So this is a telephone, but you'll notice that the speaker is actually facing away from the way a child would normally play with it. So while it's still a close to ear toy, you want to be especially aware and make sure that the direction of the speaker is always facing away from the child. That's a really good way to avoid hearing damage. Also, if you have a toy that is loud and you're concerned about it, you can put a piece of scotch tape over the speaker. That's one way to help minimize the hazard. But if you're like me, you've heard the classic, she'll be coming around the mountain. All those A, A, A is for Apple about 1,000 times. So maybe just take the batteries out. It's one of the hazards of your job. I imagine you hear that all the time. Yeah, we have your plugs. Let's move on to batteries. John, what do parents need to know from your perspective about toys with batteries? Is there a requirement? Oh yeah, there's absolutely a requirement for batteries. For kids three and under, any toy with any size battery should have the battery compartment sealed with a screw or some sort of dual action mechanism that can't be undone without a screwdriver or a coin. Something similar so that the batteries don't just liberate, come out. Then we also have button cell batteries. That's a huge deal. That's for kids for three all the way up to eight as far as the standard covers. But the hazard there is a kid might ingest these button cell batteries and they leak and can cause damage to the child's internal organs. I know that we've seen a number of those throughout the country injuries to children. Nicky, in terms of toys, there are requirements then for that battery compartment. What about safety tips for parents, for caregivers with your TV remote with any other type of remote that you have in your house where the batteries can easily come out? Is there that same type of requirement or what do you have to do to keep your kids safe around those? Well, it's extremely important that consumers remain vigilant with some of the products that are not children's products. So that could be something as simple as your keyless remote to your automobile could have a button battery in it, your wireless remote to your game systems in your home that perhaps your older children are using. So keeping them informed and making sure they can help you as a parent to keep those types of button batteries away from children because if the kid does get access, it can cause severe chemical burns if those are swallowed as well. Alright, Nicky, let's move on to what type of toy you should get for your child for whatever age they are. How do you know and what are you looking for in terms of age and ability and the right toy? The simplest step is to use the age labels that are right on the product as your guide. You want to choose an age-appropriate toy for the child in which you're intending to purchase for good news that's simply there on the package. We all know young kids, especially children under the age of three, like to mouth products. So you want to avoid toys that specifically say not intended for children under the age of three. You know that's the common time when children are still mouthing objects. So take heed to those warnings. Use them to help guide you on your purchases. And online shopping now more popular than ever. Do you have any tips for customers when it comes to online? Online shopping. Yes, you want to take the same precautions you would take in the store and on the store shelves. Check the age in which the product is being sold. So again, choosing that age-appropriate toy regardless of the way you're shopping and making sure that the product has not been recalled, you can check on our website as well. All right. John, toy testing. Let's move back to that. And if you could tell us what else really are you looking for when you're testing a toy? OK. Well, like I said before, there's a whole bunch of people that are involved in the process. And you know, we've got more than just me in the toy lab here. But each toy that comes in, CPSIA give us a lot more tools than just your classic dropping it on the floor. We can now look for magnets as we've gone over already. This is a great toy that I like to use on tours of the lab because it's several toys in one. It's got a stuffed animal component. So along the seam, we would actually try and rip the seam apart and see if there's anything dangerous in the middle. It's got a metal in the legs. And just like when you bend a spoon back and forth a thousand times, it can snap. And if that were to protrude and produce a small part or a sharp point, that's something that we're on the lookout for. And also, with this toy, it has magnets in the feet that if you were able to remove the magnet, they would be classified as hazardous magnet components. But we're not actually able to remove the toy because it was sewn in well. And it was a well-made toy. And so those are just a couple of the other things that we can look for and sort of run the whole gamut of testing on these toys. Sounds like you have a pretty fun job over there. Are you and the toy testing team? I say it a thousand times, but you've got to have a sense of humor to work in the toy lab. Sounds like it. That's true. Nikki, in terms of other hazards for kids, what are you seeing in terms of deaths related to toys other than those riding toys? Where are some of the other hazards? Yes, another problem may be considered in the noctuous problem and it's actually with balloons. Out of the 11 toy-related deaths, two were caused by deflated or broken pieces of a balloon. I have one here. Again, this can seal off the air passageway of a young child and suffocate that child. So really important if you have a festive occasion and you're using balloons, as a part of that occasion, if you hear one pop, you want to get down on your knees, pick up each and every piece, keep it out of the reach of the young children. Again, we know that they're malving, putting things in their mouths and choking. That's the second leading cause of a toy-related death. If you're shopping online and you see recalled products, really what should you do? If you see a toy, should you buy that toy and then get the fix for it, or what do you recommend, Nikki? The good news is that when the Consumer Product Safety Commission works with a company on a product recall, there are remedies available to consumers. We want them to take advantage of those remedies that are available to them, either a repair, a replacement, or a refund. So you want to check our website, look for products, you can look them up by brand name or by the product name to see that product has been recalled. And then look further to find out what the remedy is that you can take advantage of as a consumer to make sure that you're either repairing that product or getting your refund or your replacement product. If you have older kids and younger kids in your home who have different toys for their different ages, really what should you do? Because a toy for an eight-year-old wouldn't be necessarily appropriate for your infant. So, Nikki, what do you recommend there? I think it's best to educate your older children and have them be your many advocates to help you with your younger children. Explain to them the reasons why the products that they may be playing with or the toys they're playing with could be dangerous to their little brother or sister. Also, keep those products may be intended for the older building sets that have lots of parts and pieces up out of the reach of children by putting that on the top shelves of closets and other storage areas as opposed to keeping in a main toy box that all kids would have access to. Again, getting your older kids to help you. I mean, parenting is hard, so why not get the older kids to help? That's right. John, what else are you looking for when toys are coming through the lab? What other kind of tests are you doing? Well, we've gone over noise, we've gone over magnets, we look for strangulation hazards, tratment hazards, sharp points. We really have a whole gamut spectrum that we can test for and we've got the tools and the people here to do it. Sounds great. All right, well thank you for joining our first Google Plus Hangout on Toy Safety. You can find out more information about Toy Safety on our website, which is www.cpsc.gov and you can also follow us on Twitter on safety. We encourage you also to report any safety concerns incidents that you've had with consumer products under our jurisdiction of course to us at our website saferproducts.gov and thank you so much for joining us today.