These toys can damage children's eyes, ANSES publishes an alert for parents

Be careful with these children's toys available for sale, they can attack the retina of the youngest.

Stuffed animals, dolls, Lego, children have no shortage of choices of toys to have fun with. However, some of them can be dangerous. There are the risks of choking or injuries regularly cited, but other risks are less well known, such as the eye risk. Some toys can indeed affect your child's retina, which can, in the long term, increase the risk of macular degeneration linked to age, then cause a weakening of visual capacities. Another consequence is the disruption of the biological rhythm and in particular of sleep.

A European standard is supposed to regulate this type of toy. 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 now considered insufficient by the National Agency for Safety Food, Environment and Work Health (Anses), which recently studied it at the request of the Ministries responsible for Health and Economy and Finance.

The toys concerned are those that use LEDs, thus emitting blue light, as reported by Anses in its press release. These may be robotic soft toys or educational games with flashing buttons, for example. “Children, whose eyes do not completely filter out blue light, are particularly sensitive to these risks,” the agency explains, since children's lenses are clearer.

Despite the current standard, “toys declared compliant” can thus be led to “exceed the exposure limit values.” The agency also carried out a test on 10 toys available for sale, containing 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 revision of the latter and a temporary return to the 2005 rules.

Anses also recommends limiting exposure to these LEDs on a daily basis, or to favor red or orange lights, which are less aggressive. It is particularly important to give your child light-up toys at least two hours before bedtime so as not to disturb sleep.