According to ANSES, these toys are governed by a safety standard which should be seriously revised.
At Christmas or for a birthday, most people buy gifts without really checking whether or not they meet current safety standards. Often, the visual appeal, popularity or price of the gift comes before safety. This negligence can expose adults, but also children to certain risks such as toxic materials, small detachable parts or dangerous mechanisms. This is the case with many toys that are regularly found in the hands of young people. Indeed, in the December issue of the specialized magazine 60 million consumerss, the National Health Safety Agency (ANSES) once again points the finger at luminous toys for children (soft toys and interactive dolls, night lights, luminous spinning tops, etc.).
These would present a real risk to the health of the child. According to ANSES experts, the element that poses a problem is LEDs, namely light-emitting diodes which emit blue light. However, we have heard many times that exposure to blue light disrupts children’s biological clock, affecting their sleep and cognitive development in the long term. Moreover, “at high intensity, it can cause injury” on the retina of their eye, we can read in the article by 60 Million consumers.
In principle, these LED toys are governed by a European standard (EN IEC 62115 2020 standard) which was revised in 2020. Except that for ANSES, this should again be revised more strictly, as was the case at the time, in 2005. After several tests carried out on toys containing LEDs, the results showed that 7 LEDs out of 19, compliant with the current standard, ultimately did not meet the requirements of the National Health Security Agency. However, the director of the French federation of toy industries, Christophe Drevet, clarifies with our colleagues that LED lights in toys are generally “protected by a diffuser, a plastic cover (…) which has a real vocation as a filter”.
In any case, for ANSES, if you still want to offer a luminous toy to a child, it is better to opt for an item that contains red light diodes. These are less harsh on the eyes and less disruptive to toddlers’ sleep, and they even have a relaxing effect in some cases.
