Off the Wall: We Sharpened OUR Lawn Darts and Lived Free
Retro Kids Toys That Were In Fact, Not Safe
Retro Kids Toys That Were In Fact, Not Safe
(I’m not kidding. That’s back when eleven-year-olds had access to a grinder and were expected to use it on the farm. BTW, no serious injuries or deaths occurred. However, turning fire ant mounds into volcanoes using gasoline… That’s another story. - DD)
(The Odd Historian) - For most of the 20th century, toys answered to no one. Fun was first, safety was second. Truly a splendiferous time to be alive (kidding). That was until the passing of the Federal Hazardous Substance Act in 1960, when regulators finally had the power to ban the famously dangerous—but fun—pieces of entertainment that were harming the youth of tomorrow. But enforcement was slow, reactive, and slugged behind the industry’s imagination. It took real, sustained waves of injury before anyone in Washington batted an eye, and it wasn’t until 1972, when Congress created the Consumer Product Safety Commission, that the US had an agency specially built to ask the question: “How can I poke my eye out with this thing?”
In the gap before the establishment of this party pooping commission, toy makers ran wild. Products that were short of being a lethal weapon, marketed as a fun backyard game that even the toddler could enjoy. Or, if your child was more of the indoors type, maybe get them a chemistry kit where they can consume all the hazardous chemicals included in the box!
There were many products that matched these descriptions. They were mainstream, advertised during Saturday morning cartoons and printed on the…
