Be careful with these children’s toys available for sale, they can attack the retina of young people.
Soft toys, dolls, Lego, children have no shortage of choices of toys to have fun with. However, some of them can be dangerous. There are the regularly cited risks of suffocation or injury, but other risks are more unknown, such as the eye risk. Certain toys can actually affect your child’s retina, which can, in the long term, increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration and then cause a weakening of visual abilities. Another consequence is the disruption of the biological rhythm and in particular of sleep.
A European standard is supposed to regulate this type of toys. Revised in 2020 with implementation in 2022, it sets up a verification protocol based on calculations taking into account the characteristics of the lamps and the usage scenarios. However, it is today considered insufficient by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES), which recently studied it at the request of the ministries in charge of Health and of Economy and Finance.
The toys concerned are those that use LEDs, thus emitting blue light, as reported by ANSES in its press release. These could be robotic stuffed animals or educational games with flashing buttons, for example. “Children, whose eyes do not completely filter blue light, are particularly sensitive to these risks,” explains the agency, as children’s lenses are clearer.
Despite the standard in force, “toys declared compliant” may thus be caused “to exceed the exposure limit values”. The agency also carried out a test on 10 toys available for sale, comprising 19 LEDs in different colors. The observation is the same: with the current standard, nine toys can pass the verification test compared to only two with the old standard dating from 2005. ANSES is therefore calling for a rapid review of the latter and a temporary return to the rules of 2005.
ANSES also advises limiting exposure to these LEDs on a daily basis, or favoring red or orange lights, which are less aggressive. It is particularly important to give your child light toys at least two hours before bedtime so as not to disrupt falling asleep.