Toxic toys a persistant problem in China

We kind of already know that toys made in China aren't totally safe. (America seems to have a recurring problem with lead-tainted batches of toys from China). And those are the ones sold in America. What about buying toys here in China?

Greenpeace and IPEN reckon they have done the first large-scale investigation into the local problem. They went out on a shopping trip in five major Chinese cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Wuhan) and bought 500 children's products. They then scanned the items for these six toxic metals: antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury.

How did the toys stand up? Well, at least not everything was dripping with harmful substances. The study found that "one-third of tested products contained at least one toxic metal at levels of concern." See the full results here. You can isolate the findings to look at Beijing-only results. All we can say is that Hongqiao Market has some pretty scary toys.

"In short, no matter who or where you buy your toy from in China, there is a possibility that a toxic metal is present." That includes name-brand items, says Greenpeace. So how to avoid giving your kids/nieces/nephews a toxic toy without going Grinch this year? Not much guidance other than "carefully read product labels and try to identify chemical safety information." Movie tickets and home-baked cakes it is, then.