Toxic Toy Law Reconsidered as Suit Threatens

The Rockland County Legislature will vote Tuesday on setting a date for a public hearing to amend the Rockland County Toxic Free Toys Act.

After the lawmakers passed the original bill, some local McDonalds restaurants started handing out books instead of toys with their Happy Meals for children.

County Executive Ed Day had allowed the law to go into effect without vetoing or signing it. But then the Safe To Play Coalition threatened a lawsuit. The industry group has already brought suit against Albany County, resulting in a stay of enforcement of that county’s “toxic toys” law.

“Once the industry representatives reached out to me, I met with them and I worked to address their concerns, including agreeing to work on amendments that would address those concerns but also protect children from toxic and carcinogenic chemicals,” said Rockland County Legislature Chairman Alden H. Wolfe.

Day said to avoid unnecessary litigation, and the effort and tax dollars it would consume, County Attorney Thomas Humbach has forged an agreement with the Coalition. Under the agreement, the advocacy group will refrain from suing the County until December 31, 2015. In return, the County has agreed that its Office of Consumer Protection will use its discretion and not act on the law through that time. This agreement prevents tax dollars being wasted on litigation, and also establishes a “time out” for businesses considering pulling products off their shelves.

“This is serious,” Day said. “Beyond the disappointment children have when perfectly safe “Happy Meals” toys are now banned by an absurd law, we now have a significant economic issue as toy stores are mulling over pulling other toys, clothes and even child car safety seats off this shelves too! I hope Legislator Wolfe will use this time wisely to craft legislation that is enforceable, meaningful and does not send consumers to New Jersey. I have no intention of pandering to the Coalition, but I must be armed with an enforceable law that acts in the best interest of the County’s residents, businesses and government. When I have that law, regardless of the Coalition’s feelings about it, I will give it my support.”

Lawmakers will set the public hearing date after the vote, should they vote in the affirmative, Wolfe said. The Legislature’s Multi-services Committee voted 5-0 Nov. 10 to set the date.

“The amendments involve language changes that tighten up the original intention of the law - enforcement to protect children from toxic and carcinogenic chemicals - and address the underlying unintended consequences - capturing children’s toys and products that already passed existing safety standards,” Wolfe said.

McDonald’s is the largest distributor of toys in the world, according to the Huffington Post.

Wolfe said he understood that the company had made a business decision not to allow local franchisees to give out toys because they couldn’t guarantee that the toys complied with Rockland’s law.

Laws like that in Rockland, Albany, Westchester and Suffolk counties are due in great part to lobbying efforts by Clean and Healthy New York, an advocacy group fighting toxic chemicals in the daily environment.

“It’s impossible to shop our way out of the problem,” they say on their website. “Companies can lead the way, innovating solutions for safer products and green chemistry, but without regulatory action there will always be laggards who continue to use cheap toxic chemicals and put the real costs on us - in the form of illness, clean-up costs and natural resource damage.”

PHOTO/Clean and Healthy New York