If you are as incensed as I am over the recent recall of millions of Thomas the Tank Engine trains, you might want to pop over to MomsRising and sign their petition to tell Congress and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): “Testing children’s products for toxic chemicals must be a priority. No more toxic toys and children’s products!”
This won’t help your distraught children, but might make you feel like you’re doing something about the problem. I’m thinking that messages to individual members of Congress may help, too. Apparently, Senator Barack Obama has introduced a bill to “ban any product aimed at children younger than 6 containing more than ‘trace amounts’ of lead.” This seems like the kind of family-friendly legislation that would do his presidential campaign good and might in fact have a chance of success. (That being said, I know nothing about the industry groups that might be against this for any reason—though they’d have a lot of explaining to do if they fight it too hard.)
