Toys

Toys, from a sanitary point of view, are by no means indifferent; the material from which they are made, as well as their form, coloring, and handling should be under the control of medical workers and educators. Toys should correspond to the age of the child, be convenient in form, light and sufficiently strong; they should not have cutting, piercing, or easily breakable parts. For children under 1 year of age, particularly strict sanitary requirements should be imposed on toys. At this age, only smooth and uncolored on the outside toys made of celluloid, bone, or rubber are permissible, which by their form and material cannot cause any harm to the child. Red rubber toys are better than white ones, as the constituent parts of white (or rather gray) rubber that determine its color (zinc oxide, lead-sulfur salt, etc.) are leached out by saliva. Even such a water-insoluble compound as lead-sulfur salt is extracted by saliva from gray rubber mass, though in negligible, yet still sufficient for poisoning quantities. Many authors observed chronic poisoning from zinc contained in gray rubber nipples. Toys with surface coloring should be avoided, as the latter very often contains poisonous substances easily scraped off by a child's teeth, for example, zinc compounds, lead-sulfur and lead-carbonate salts, cadmium sulfide, lead-chromate salt, etc. From the second, and preferably from the third year of life, when the child begins to orient himself to the colored tint of objects and less often puts them in his mouth, surface bright coloring of toys is permissible; it should be done with durable oil or enamel non-washable paint; the coloring substance in this paint should be harmless by its nature or insolubility (for example, vermilion or chromium oxide). It should be borne in mind that all paints on toys, excluding lacquer and oil paints, are not durable; they soon begin to crack, fall off in small particles, and can serve as a source of poisoning. Therefore, the possibility of chronic poisoning with zinc and especially lead paints cannot be denied even when these paints are prepared on lacquer or oil. Of metal toys, nickel-plated, copper-nickel or tinned, tin (without lead), and aluminum ones can be considered harmless. Woven wooden rattles are also little suitable, as they easily get dirty and scratch; rattles with broken glass are especially dangerous; among tin toys, those with cutting edges are harmful. "Tin" soldiers are harmful because they are made of pure lead. Toys representing birds and other animals, covered with small colored hairs or feathers, give harmful hair dust and also easily get dirty. The same applies to toys made of paper, cardboard mass, as they are sometimes covered with peeling glue paints. All kinds of whistles and mouth organs should be avoided, as, passing from one child to another, they can be carriers of infections. Toys are examined for the presence of harmful to health substances (poisonous paints, heavy metals) by ordinary analytical methods. Analysis is applied, as necessary, to either the entire material of the toy or only the coloring, tinning, etc., removed by scraping. In many countries there are special regulations prohibiting the use in the manufacture of toys of certain or other harmful to health materials and paints containing lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc. If some of the harmful substances are admitted as an inevitable impurity (for example, lead in tin toys), then only in certain, extremely small quantities or only under certain conditions that eliminate the harmful health effect of the poison. Thus, the German law permits the presence of zinc, antimony, and other compounds in the mass of rubber toys, i.e., in cases where these substances are almost not extracted. In Russia before the revolution, there was a law on toys, but it contained only general, undetailed requirements about the harmlessness of their coloring.