_{No holiday gift should send a kid to the hospital}

RICHMOND – In response to growing concern about the safety of children’s toys sold at the nation’s stores, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran proposed the ‘Virginia Toy Safety Act’ today to ensure dangerous toys are off our store shelves, we keep only safe toys in child daycare facilities, and penalize those who endanger children by selling recalled toys. Delegate Moran was joined by Delegate Shannon Valentine (D-Lynchburg), John Morgan from Voices for Virginia’s Children and Dr. Colleen Kraft, President of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, last year 73,000 kids went to the Emergency Room because of toy-related injuries.

“As the father of two young children I know how important safe toys are to our families during this holiday season,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran. “No parent should worry about their child going to the Emergency Room because of a toy they received Christmas morning.”

There are more than 9 million toys under recall worldwide from major manufacturers today. The ‘VA Toy Safety Act’ will:

• Direct the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Health to remove recalled toys from the shelves in Virginia and to consider the development of standards for toys here in the Commonwealth.
• Mandate new regulations for our Child Daycare Council to keep high led based toys and toys with other carcinogens away from children in both homes-based child care and our child care centers.
• Create a new civil penalty for stores that knowingly resell recalled toys to families for their children.

“The ‘Toy Safety Act’ provides new protections from dangerous recalled toys being sold in Virginia stores,” said Delegate Moran. “The Federal Government has failed to provide needed protection to our families, so I’m asking Virginia to step forward.”

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has only one toy tester and a tiny force of 15 inspectors to check millions of toys at hundreds of ports of entry. A recent report released by the Washington Toxic Coalition found that an unacceptable number of children’s toys are contaminated with lead, mercury, and cadmium at levels that are dangerously high. Lead exposure in children and unborn children can cause brain and nervous system damage, behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems and headaches.

“Families in Virginia deserve to know our children are being protected from toys known to be dangerous and toxic. This legislation demonstrates our responsibility to keep our children as safe as possible,” said Delegate Valentine.

For more information or to sign on as a ‘Citizen Cosponsor’ of the ‘Toy Safety Act’ visit www.NoDangerousToys.com