After a summer of disturbing toy recalls and a fall that already promises to be full of Congressional hearings into product-safety, the toy industry is taking its own steps to reassure the public that children's playthings are safe.

The trade group that represents the nation's largest toymakers, the Toy Industry Association, this week asked the federal government to require safety testing and inspection for all toys sold in the U.S. The TIA also wants to develop a standardized process to be used industry-wide to verify that products comply with U.S. safety standards. The association, in an announcement issued earlier this week, said it is working with the nonprofit voluntary standards group American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop such a process as well as uniform standards to confirm and certify the testing laboratories that will be conducting the prescribed testing.

The toy association's announcement came the same week of another major toy recall--Mattel's third this summer, this one involving a total of 844,000 toys for lead paint--and an announcement that Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill). will hold hearings next week on toy safety. Witnesses include the leaders of Mattel and Toys 'R' Us, plus representatives of the toy association and the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, will also testify. Durbin has also asked a representative of the Chinese government to testify about the problems of products imported from his country. All recent recalls have been for toys made in China.

Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce consumer protection subcommittee also plans to hold hearings on Sept. 19 to discuss lead-laden toys imported from China.

The call for federally mandated safety testing and inspections is a big change for the toy association. TIA president Carter Keithley said that the industry remains "quite confident about safety of toys in America."  But, he said, the recent rash of recalls due to lead paint suggest "there must be some sort of slippage in the inspection system" of toys sold in the U.S. The recalls suggest "we need to take some measures to tighten up the safety of the system," Keithley added.  He noted that the association isn't calling for new mandatory safety standards for toys--simply a federal requirement that toys be inspected and tested by a third party, independent and certified lab.

"It's not a question of more testing, but smarter testing," said Frederick B. Locker, a lawyer for TIA. "We have to accredit the labs to make sure all the labs do all the proper testing whether in hinterlands of China or in the U.S.," Locker said. And, he added, the only way to have that testing done across the board is to have it federally mandated. That's the way, he said, "to level that playing field."

The Consumer Product Safety Commission supports the industry's proposal to have third party independent certified labs test toys. Congress would have to enact a law, however, to require safety testing and inspection of all toys. "If Congress instructs the agency to do it, the agency will follow those instructions," said CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese. But, she added, Congress also "would need to take into consideration providing the resources to carry it out."

Indeed, funding is an important issue for the CPSC which has seen its budget and staff shrink considerably over the past few years.  TIA's Locker said the association was behind funding more money to the CPSC "100 percent."

Consumers Union supports the mandatory testing proposal. But we must make this cautionary statement: It will only be effective if the government has enough funds and staff to ensure that they test and spot-check imports frequently to make sure they meet safety standards. We also think toys should be safety certified and carry a certification mark--such as the UL mark that's found on most electrical products or the USDA mark found on beef. European toys already are required to be tested and carry such certification symbols. It's time for the U.S. to  catch up.

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