On December 12, 2007, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released statistics about toy-related deaths and injuries to consumers during 2006. The report shows that riding toys account for a majority of the deaths and injuries.

But perhaps the most surprising statistic is the number of toy-related injuries that required emergency-room treatment: 220,500. 75 percent of those injuries were to children under 15 years of age, and 95 percent were treated and released from the hospital.

Nearly half (44 percent) of the total number of toy-related injuries were to the head and face, 25 percent were to the arms, and 18 percent were to the legs and feet. The most frequent diagnoses were:

• lacerations (28 percent),
• contusions and abrasions (19 percent),
• fractures (14 percent), and
• sprains and strains (12 percent).

Other diagnoses included internal injury, ingestion and concussion.

Riding toys, including non-motorized scooters, were associated with more emergency-room related injuries among all ages than any other category of toy. The next highest number of injuries was associated with flying toys.

In terms of toy-related deaths in children under 15 years old, rubber balls and beads accounted for three deaths when the toys obstructed airways or aspirated the child. Similarly, toy nails or air pegs accounted for three deaths after obstructing children?s airways, and powered riding toys were associated with three deaths after a child fell into a pond, another was hit by a car, and the third was strangled when a costume?s cape got caught in the axle.

Non-motorized scooters were also associated with three deaths, after the children riding the scooters either hit or were hit by a vehicle.

Tricycles accounted for two drownings, after children fell into in-ground swimming pools. One six-month-old child and one three-month-old fell off a bed onto a pile of stuffed animals and suffocated. And unspecified types of balls were associated with two deaths ? one ball struck a 10-year-old girl on the head and she died of inter-cerebral hemorrhage, and a 17-month-old was run over after he followed a ball as it rolled behind a truck.

Source: ?Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries Calendar Year 2006,? U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Report, December 12, 2007.