Holiday Shopping Season Brings Toy Safety into Focus

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• JIM LEHRER:

  Now, the first of two reports on toxic toys by our economics correspondent Paul Solman. Tonight, he looks at lead levels.

• TOY TESTER:

  So you've got Diego, huh? Isn't he cute?

• PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent:

  A one-time testing of toys for lead at a mall in Rochester, New York with a state-of-the-art X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

• TOY TESTER:

  Yes, that's lead.

• TOY TESTER:

  About 550…

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  … 550 parts per million, completely legal in the U.S., but many think it's potentially toxic, because there's new evidence, as you'll see in a bit, that lead is dangerous at levels far below what the law allows.

• SHOPPER:

  If it's made in China, I mean, you wonder if it's lead.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  American consumers have already been shopping scared this globalized holiday season due to the recall of some 25 million toys, mostly from China, which now supplies four-fifths or more of our playthings.

• SHOPPER:

  I've been trying to purchase things not made in China, but it's almost impossible to find anything that's not.

• SHOPPER:

  I've leaned away from buying more toys and getting more things like clothes or DVDs.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  So now you are Gary "The Happy Pirate"?

  GARY "THE HAPPY PIRATE" SMITH: That's me.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Gary "The Happy Private" Smith, a kids' entertainer, has run a toy drive for nine years. This is the first year, though, that he's testing for lead.

  GARY "THE HAPPY PIRATE" SMITH: When the recalls started coming out, our warehouse, which has over 20,000 toys, has to be gone through to see if these toys are in there. But if I had a ship that day, I would have probably sailed and looked for someone.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  You would have gone and sacked their corporate fortress?

  GARY "THE HAPPY PIRATE" SMITH: Maybe pillage a little, yes, maybe.