During the holidays, many of us adopt a devil-may-care attitude toward shopping for presents, especially if the anticipated resulted is a gleam of delight in a child’s eye. When we’re carried away by the holiday spirit and vulnerable to advertising blitzes for the latest, greatest gifts, it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security that no responsible retailer would dare sell unsafe toys.

Unfortunately, many toys are unsafe – especially for very young children -- and they often aren’t pulled off the market until there have been documented instances that they’ve caused serious injuries or deaths. In 2008, emergency rooms treated an estimated 235,300 toy-related injuries, most of which were to the head and face and included of lacerations, contusions or abrasions.

So each December, Prevent Blindness America sponsors “Safe Toys and Gifts Month” to remind consumers that careful shopping for toys and gifts can maintain the magic of the holidays and prevent them from turning tragic.

Prevent Blindness America recommends that shoppers always:

• Buy age-appropriate toys.
• Look for toys and other gifts that meet American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) safety standards.
• Review warnings on the toy’s box.
• Avoiding shooting toys that have pieces that shoot or fly off.
• Remember that BB guns, air guns, and paintball guns are not really toys. (Sorry, Ralphie, your Mom was right. They can shoot your eye out.)

Every year, thousands of young children under age 14 suffer serious eye injuries or even blindness from toys and gifts. So Prevent Blindness America urges parents to ask themselves if a toy is right for a child’s ability and age, show children how to use toys safely, watch them as they play, and fix or throw away broken toys.

The organization recommends:

• Avoiding toys with rigid points, spikes, rods or dangerous edges.
• Checking lenses and frames on children’s sunglasses, which can break and cause eye injuries.
• Buying toys that can withstand impact and not break into dangerous shards.
• Storing toys properly after play to avoid risks and falls.
• Supervising children’s crafts projects, especially those involving scissors and glue, which are dangerous to children’s eyes.
• Requiring children to wear appropriate eye protection such as face shields, helmets, and eyeguards when playing sports.

The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to look for toys that are sturdy, contain nontoxic materials, and don’t make loud noise. In addition, the Academy recommends that:

• All electric toys be approved by Underwriters Laboratory (UL).
• Homeowners avoid purchasing trampolines.
• Children under 16 avoid riding on four-wheel all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and that three-wheel ATVs should be banned.

During the past few years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has identified many hazardous toys, most of which weren’t recalled until they had been on the shelves for many months. A few examples include:

• Toys with small magnets, which can come loose and be swallowed.
• Toys with easily removable lithium button batteries that also can be swallowed.
• Toys with lead paint.
• Children’s jewelry containing toxic metals such as lead and cadmium.

The commission offers these tips to ensure that toys are age appropriate:

• Ages 3 and under. Avoid small toys that can fit inside a choke test cylinder or no-choke testing tube, which measures 1¼ inches wide by 2¼ inches long; never let children of any age play with uninflated or broken balloons; avoid marbles, balls and games with balls with a diameter of 1¾ inches or less; avoid toys with small magnets, magnetic pieces or loose magnets that can be swallowed.
• Ages 3-5. Avoid toys that have sharp edges and points, or are made of thin, brittle plastic that can break into small, jagged pieces; inspect art materials such as crayons and paint sets for the designation “ASTM D-4236,” which ensures that the products have been reviewed by a toxicologist and labeled, if necessary, with cautionary information; also avoid toys with magnets in this age group.
• Ages 6-12. Older children should be taught to keep their toys away from younger siblings. Any toy guns should have a brightly colored barrel so they cannot be mistaken for a real gun.

One of the most neglected safety concerns is toys which are so loud that they can cause hearing loss. These include:

• Cap guns.
• Musical toys.
• Toy phones.
• Horns and sirens.
• Some squeaky rubber toys.

Such toys are capable of generating noise up to 120 decibels, which is as loud as a jet at take-off. When held next to the ear, they can cause pain and permanent hearing loss.

For more information on “Safe Toys and Gifts Month,” contact Prevention Blindness America at http://www.preventblindness.org/ and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which each year publishes its “Trouble in Toyland Report” on dangerous toys, at https://www.uspirg.org/home/reports/report-archives/product-safety/product-safety-reports/trouble-in-toyland-the-25th-annual-survey-of-toy-safety#id5D46tK-16AQS0-LcXSZcwA.

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