Read more: Local, Health, Business
When it comes to buying toys Stephen Neumann, a father of three daughters, said he is more apt to buy a traditional style toy like dolls, chalk or tea set
"You know, our tendency has been to buy the more traditional old fashion toys. So you know safety is certainly a concern and something we are cautious about," said Nuemann.
He said the price might be higher, but he feels your paying for safety, and a well built toy.
"Its easy to be sort of cynical about the quality of things that are made these days. It seems like more and more toys are just being, kind of mass produced and fast as they possibly can at the cheapest possible prices."
According to WTAMU Professor of Marketing and International Business Syed Tarqi Anwar, cheaper prices are part of the equation for most of the recent recalls.
Thousands of crayon and paint sets made in China have been recalled by Toys "R" Us because the packaging of the wooden box contains lead.The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says no injuries have been reported from the use of the Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases.
He said China offers cheap labor; companies want to save money and the consumer always wants to save a buck too. The U.S. Toy Industry is a 22 billion dollar business, and about 15 billion dollars worth of products come from China.
"We look at the consumption issues, sometimes things may break down in the value chain, you know," said Tariq Anwar. "So this is what happened here.
Although some people know it was going to happen someday, but maybe the system didn't catch it."
Tariq said the standards for toys are different in each country and until a universal stand is set these problems could continue to pop up.
"But when people have access to cheaper labor or people have access to cheaper lower prices this is one of the things," he said.
Consumers have been asked to take the products away from children and return them to the nearest "Toys "R" Us store for store credit.
