Pet Owner Tests 24 Chinese-Made Dog Toys For Lead

[Little Bit]

I found this interesting.

Pet Owner Tests 24 Chinese-Made Dog Toys For Lead

Posted: 24 Sep 2007 03:00 PM CDT

Nancy, an Illinois pet owner, wanted to know how safe the chew toys
her Shelties played with were.

She hired an Illinois Department of Agriculture laboratory to test 24
Chinese-made dog toys for lead.

Nancy became concerned for her pets' health after the pet food
recalls. She also noticed that all of her dogs' toys were all made in China.
When she went to Petco and PetSmart, she could only find one toy in both
stores that was not made in China.

"I was doing this personally for the safety of my dogs and only tested
for lead because that's what they're finding in the toys from China," she
said.

According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture lab, all 24 toys
had lead levels that were within Illinois's acceptable limits for lead paint
in children's toys. The lab also stated that the lead levels were below the
600 parts per million level that is accepted by federal law for lead paint
in children's toys.

The highest levels of lead, 335.7 parts per million, were found in a
PetSmart tennis ball. A Hertz Rubber Percival Platypus had the lowest levels
of lead - 0.02 parts per million.

Dr. Gene Niles, who is the lab director and a Diplomate of the
American Board of Veterinary Toxicology, said: "These are all within the
acceptable limits for lead content in children's toys in Illinois. There are
no levels for lead content in pet toys. Are these numbers high or low? All I
can tell you is that in Illinois, the state allows up to 600 parts per
million for lead in kid's toys and these are all within that guideline."

But the lead levels found in the PetSmart tennis ball are 335 times
higher than the amount Expertox, a Texas, lab found in one of the Wal-Mart
pet toys they tested.


A latex dog toy that looks like a green monster was found to have lead
levels of 907.4 micrograms per kilograms.

"That's almost one part per million," said ExperTox's director and
forensic toxicologist Dr. Ernest Lykissa, Ph.D. "With that kind of
concentration, if a dog is chewing on it or licking it, he's getting a good
source of lead."

Expertox's lab manager said that the levels found in the PetSmart
tennis ball are not safe. She said that those levels were higher than in the
green monster toy, and that the 335.7 parts per million of lead found in the
tennis ball is not a safe level for pets.

But Dr. Niles, at the Illinois Department of Agriculture's lab,
disagreed with Expertox. He said that one part per million of lead should
not pose a health risk to pets.

"That's my personal opinion, not the opinion of the Illinois
Department of Agriculture," he said. "You'd find very few things that you
would let anybody play with if that (one part per million) was your
benchmark."

in response to the Illinois lab findings, PetSmart said their products
are safe and they routinely test their products for lead and other toxins. A
company spokesman said PetSmart products meet safety and quality standards
and protocols that are based on federal, state, institution, and the company's
own standards.

The company spokesman also said Expertox using one part per million as
a safety measure for toxins levels in pet toys is not fair.

"The terms 'high' and 'elevated' are relative terms and must be used
carefully and given proper context to avoid confusion and alarm," he said.
"It's not fair to pit a (forensic) toxicologist against a veterinary
toxicologist on this issue. I don't think he (Dr. Lykissa) has a leg to
stand on. He's not a veterinary toxicologist and has no point of reference
when he talks about elevated levels. Elevated against what? I don't think
his results bring any value to this discussion. And his comments will not
change anything we're doing. To our knowledge, we are not selling any
products that have compounds that have tested above levels of toxicity
established by the various entities named above and are not posing any
health threat to pets or humans."

Despite the difference in opinions on what is considered safe and what
is not, the pet industry has agreed that there needs to be regulations on
pet toys and national acceptable standards for lead and other toxins in pet
toys need to be established.

Until that happens, the president of the American Pet Products
Manufacturers Association said members of the organization will be
triple-checking and testing their products.

Meanwhile, Nancy said she is glad that the lab found that her dogs'
toys were deemed to be safe. However, she is a bit troubled that she can't
find any pet toys made in the United States.

Source: ConsumerAffairs

[sweetr72]

That is a very interesting read..thank you for posting it!!

Dawn

[Yorkiekids]

That was very informative. Thanks for sharing.

[Yorkiedaze]

Also watch out for all those Halloween party favors, toys and decorations. They are made in China as well. Not something I would feel safe in giving kids. I too would like to know why there are no companies in the USA making dog toys.

[diggy4]

Very interesting thread!! Thanks for sharing

[diggy4]

Originally Posted by Yorkiedaze

Also watch out for all those Halloween party favors, toys and decorations. They are made in China as well. Not something I would feel safe in giving kids. I too would like to know why there are no companies in the USA making dog toys.

Sounds like we need to go into american made dogs toys...wanna come over and plan this with me???