Is Amazon Toying With Child Safety?

America’s toy market was once very diverse. Department stores had big toy departments and specialty toy stores flourished. Parents relied on the reputation and knowledge of toy merchants and their commitment to high quality, safe toys. Now, most of America’s toys are purchased from just 4 (just 3, as of 2019) corporations. Can parents, especially parents with special needs children, rely on these merchants to protect their child’s safety?

20th Century merchants wouldn’t recognize today’s market. In the 1980s children began switching from traditional toys and games to video games and arcades. In the 1990s cheap toys from China flooded the market and led to Walmart’s dominance in toys. By the early 2000s, consumers shifted to online purchasing, killing off many traditional Department stores (A&S, Marshall Fields, Mays, Radio Shack, Sterns, etc.). Now the “Retail Apocolypse” is closing malls across America. Options for buying a toy continue to shrink.

According to IBISWorld, as of 2017 four merchants dominated toy sales. Walmart was America’s largest toy seller, with a 29.4% share. Nearly a third of the entire US market. Amazon was second with 16.3%, followed by GameStop with a 13.9% share. Toys R Us was fourth, with 13.6% of the market. These four merchants were responsible for 73% of all the toy sales in America. Then, in 2018, Toys R Us closed.

Let’s look at the remaining big three merchants through the eyes of a parent with a child with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD), such as autism or down’s syndrome. Do the big three toy sellers sell toys that are specifically marketed to IDD children? Yes, they do! But are all of these toys truly designed for this audience?

Since all three merchants sell online, we can learn a lot about their toys just by looking at their websites and running a few searches. The terms “autistic” and “autism” are the most common and meaningful terms related to IDD. Using the search “toys” plus either “autism” or “autistic”, should tell us something about what they sell.

• Walmart: As the largest toy seller… period… they should also sell the most autistic toys. Our basic search was run a few different ways, resulting in a list of between 7 and 449 products. This is a good baseline to compare with the other merchants.
• Gamestop: Searching our third-largest merchant, we get Zero results. Gamestop primarily sells video games, game consoles, plus toys and models based on games, movies, and animation. They list no “autistic” specific version of these products, which makes sense. We can exclude Gamestop from our study.
• Amazon: Last, but not least, the same search on Amazon returns between 2,000 and 4,000 products. Amazon has ten times as many autistic toys as Walmart while selling half as many toys. And they are gaining market share. We need to look more closely at Amazon.

The financial site, The Motley Fool, predicted that Amazon would take over customers abandoned by Toys R Us. If they do, they will become the top toy seller, presumably further swelling the number of autistic products they sell. Consider the following…

Non-Amazon Products: America has some of the most stringent standards for toys. Toy stores and toy departments used to have professional buyers who selected merchandise and understood regulations. Presumably, Amazon has the resources to understand and follow regulations. But not all of the products sold on Amazon are sold BY Amazon. A toy bought on Amazon may be sold to you by Amazon’s network of more than 5 million merchants. In just the last year, Amazon added over a million new vendors. Not all merchants may fully understand the regulations.

Toxic Toys: China produces some very high-quality products. But not all products are manufactured to the same high standards. One study tested toys in China, finding that 1 in 3 had lead contamination. Another report found banned and unsafe toys from China are sold in the U.S. Still other reports show that counterfeit toys (mostly from China) are sold in the US through Amazon and other merchants. Does Amazon run its own compliance and testing, or is it left entirely to individuals merchants? The answers are unclear.

Let’s take a closer look at Amazon “autistic” products, going through the first few pages of products from the “autism and toys” search. Some obvious themes are apparent.

1. Buyer Reviews: Amazon (and other sites) show consumer reviews. One review stated, “The part in the middle can come out… I was going to use this product to work with students with disabilities…” We don’t know if this was addressed, but 2 years after the review, the product is still on sale.
2. Incorrect Identification: Some product state that they are suitable for autistic children. Others sue the word “autistic” later in the text. Some do not appear to use the word, yet they still show up in our search. Perhaps the word is used in some section that is not visible to consumers. Or, the “autism” tag may result from an automated process. Whatever the process, the search results raise questions about how products are tagged and identified.
3. Age Appropriate: Knowing the appropriate age range for a toy is very helpful for parents. However, for a child (or adult) with intellectual disabilities, this may be more confusing than enlightening. Full-grown adults can have the mental capacity of a child, while high IQ IDD adults may have compulsive behavior, placing objects in their mouths or swallowing them, causing choking.
4. Size Matters: A common danger of poorly designed toys is choking. Small, easily detachable parts are especially dangerous. However, a “child-safe” part may not be safe for an IDD teen or adult. Larger mouths and throats can choke on larger parts. Stronger hands may be able to take apart more toys. Yet, some Amazon products say that they have smaller parts than the government recommends.
5. Magnets: Today’s magnets can be very strong, and a swallowed magnet can kill. If two or more magnets are swallowed, when they come near (in the child’s intestinal tract) they will attract each other. This will painfully squeeze tissues trapped between them, creating a potentially fatal blockage.
6. Testing Requirements: All toys made or sold in the US must meet strict testing requirements, and obtain certifications documents. A casual Google search shows many articles that tell us that untested, unsafe and counterfeit products are sold on Amazon, mostly by Amazon Sellers. Most have not somehow bypassed required testing.

In the last year that data was reported (2005), 217,000 children were treated in hospitals and 20 died due to unsafe toys. Many more may have been injured, but did not go to a hospital or see a physician. Toy safety is a major issue in America and in other nations. However, statistics are not reported for the special needs community. We need more information on what’s happening in this area.

I turned to my friend and associate, Jill Woodworth, the host of TSC Talks Podcasts, for advice. TSC (Tuberous Sclerosis Complex) is an IDD condition that causes benign tumors to grow in many body organs, including the brain. There’s a high correlation of individuals with TSC and other Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD), especially autism. Jill doesn’t just host TSC Talks, she is a mother of 5 children, three of whom have TSC.

Jill and I talked about dangerous toys, about Jill’s personal experiences, and how her Podcast could inform her audience. Jill plans to host a special podcast on toys, tentatively slated to be released within the next few weeks. The podcast will bring together a panel of experts and family members to better define the issue, and then determine the feasibility of launching a study.

I personally learned a lot as this blog developed. Toy safety is an important issue, and there are very few resources for toy safety for IDD children… or adults. For the next stage in this story, I will report back on Jill’s progress on her Podcast. If you want to be involved in this process, or if you just want to see the results… you can contact me or Jill. Let us know what you think!

• https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/chrisniccolls/
• https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jill-woodworth-7188b893/