Border-Area Study Finds Toxic Metals in Most Children's Toys

A new binational study led by researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has found that 78% of children's toys purchased in the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border region contain at least one toxic metal, and 12% exceed the limits set by U.S. and Mexican toy safety standards. The study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, is the first binational screening of hazardous metals in toys sold on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Children are not small adults. Their bodies take in heavy metals more readily than ours do," said Jorge Gardea-Torresdey, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UTEP and the study's senior author. "And because their organs and detoxification systems are still developing, the same exposure that an adult might tolerate can cause far greater harm."

Over 11 months, researchers acquired 333 toys, 109 from El Paso and 224 from Ciudad Juarez, and screened each one using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, a technique that reveals a material's elemental makeup, for lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, nickel, zinc, titanium and other elements. Nickel, a common cause of allergic reactions, appeared in more than a third of samples, with one item made entirely of nickel. Lead turned up in 3% of toys, mostly in inexpensive jewelry, with some metal components containing as much as 67% lead. Arsenic and cadmium, both classified as human carcinogens, were found in 18 and 15 items respectively, all purchased in Ciudad Juarez.

Toys bought in Ciudad Juarez were roughly three times more likely to exceed safety thresholds than those bought in El Paso, and children's jewelry, about 41% of the toys collected, was the highest-risk category. The researchers caution that their method measures the total metal content of a toy rather than how much can migrate out through contact with saliva or sweat, so the results should be read as a screening-level indicator of risk rather than confirmed violations. Planned follow-up work includes tests that simulate real-world use and expanded sampling in other border communities, aimed at protecting the roughly 565,000 children who live in the binational community, Gardea-Torresdey said.