GROUP PUTS FOCUS ON TOYS' HAZARDS.

Byline: Janette Williams Staff Writer

PASADENA - Just in time to alert parents before the holiday shopping frenzy begins in earnest, the annual `'Trouble In Toyland'' report on hazardous toys was released Tuesday by the national Public Interest Research Group.

According to the consumer watchdog agency, 16 children died last year while playing with toys, nine of them from choking. And while the 15th annual survey noted some signs of improvement, it also reports 152,600 people went to the emergency room for toy-related injuries in 1999, nearly half of them under age 5.

`'It's easy to call it the big annual toy scare, but even one death is one too many,'' the group's spokeswoman, Evelyn Richards, said Tuesday.

``Even we do not catch everything, but the biggest cause of death is choking, and four of the nine deaths in 1999 were from balloons,'' Richards said.

`'Small balls are another problem,'' she said. ``In one tragic case last year in El Paso, Texas, a little girl with a caterpillar toy with string antennae and fuzzy balls on the end choked on one. Toys are meant to be fun, not to cause death.''

One easy way for parents to gauge whether a toy, or toy part, could get stuck in a child's throat is to check if fits inside the cardboard tube of a toilet roll, Richards said.

``Consumers should remember that just because a toy appears on store shelves, or doesn't appear on PIRG's list, doesn't mean that it's safe,'' she said.

The report also warns consumers about the possibility of some soft plastic PVC toys posing toxic hazards.

Melissa Stewart, executive director of a Pasadena day nursery, said parents should also be wary of hand-me-down toys that may not meet current safety standards.

``People donate used toys, and sometimes they're broken or missing parts,'' Stewart said. ``For parents, it's most important they be aware of the possibilities.''

The current scooter craze has also prompted warnings from the research group, which reports 9,400 scooter-related injuries in the last year. The agency recommends wearing safety gear, including helmets, riding only on smooth surfaces where there is no traffic, and not riding scooters at night.

The growing popularity of Internet toy sales - which the PIRG reported grew from $45 million in 1998 to $425 million in 1999 - has also raised concerns.

``Purchasers probably won't see child safety choke hazard warnings that toy packaging must by law prominently display,'' Richards said. The group wants manufacturers to provide safety warnings voluntarily, she said.

Tips on toy safety are posted on the group's Web site, www.toysafety.net.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3) Top, Ben Flamm of the Public Interest Research Group speaks on toys that pose a chocking or toxic risk. These erasers, above, are held up Tuesday as one of many products for kids that may threaten their health. At, left, Playthings on display at a Pasadena day care have been identified by one group as potential harmful.

Jeff Gritchen/Staff Photographer

Walt Mancini/Staff Photographer