The Most Dangerous Toys Of All Time

Toy companies have to constantly churn out new ideas in order to stay fresh and meet the demands of an ever-changing demographic. Occasionally, that means producing toys which don’t quite live up to their expectations or don’t work as intended. Sometimes, these toys can have unintended uses or cause unexpected problems when put in the destructive and hyperactive hands of young children. While this mostly results in broken toys and tears, sometimes toys can get dangerous. Want to know which toys to avoid at the next yard sale? This list is a run down of the most dangerous toys of all time.

Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab

The name of this toy should have been enough to let parents know they need to stay away from this one. The A.C. Gilbert Toy Company released the U-238 Atomic Energy Lab in 1950 to the delight of young scientists throughout America. True to its name, the science kit allowed youngsters to learn about the possibilities of atomic energy - through playing with actual radioactive uranium samples. The kit came with an electroscope that allowed kids to measure the radioactivity of the various elements that were included. Despite the manufacturer’s assurance that this toy posed no health risks, it was quickly pulled from shelves.

Creepy Crawlers

This toy was seemingly in response to the wildly popular Easy-Bake Oven, a lightbulb disguised as an oven which was marketed to young girls. Mattel assumed boys would rather play with bugs than bake cakes, and so released an oven that baked bugs rather than cakes. The problem was that the open-face electric hot plate on which the bugs were cooked could reach temperatures up to 390 °F (199 °C). Not only could children inhale the toxic fumes of liquid plastic being superheated, but they could also reach right in the oven and sear the skin off of their little hands.

Hannah Montana Pop Star Card Game

What could be so dangerous about a card game? If that card game was manufactured overseas in countries with little to no safety regulations, a lot. After this card game somehow based on the children’s television show character was released in 2007, regulators found that the cards had a lead contamination of close to 3,000 parts per million - seventy-five times the legal limit. Amazingly, the cards stayed on store shelves thanks to a legal loophole which placed lead restrictions only on paints found on toys, not the vinyl out of which these cards were made. Thanks, Miley Cyrus.

CSI: Fingerprint Examination Kit

The CSI franchise isn’t exactly kid-friendly, seeing how the whole premise of the show centers on investigators solving crimes, many of which are gruesome murders. That should have been the first indication that the CSI: Fingerprint Examination Kit was a bad idea for a toy. The second indication should have been when they toy’s manufacturers decided to include tremolite, one of the most dangerous forms of asbestos, as a fingerprint dusting powder. The concentration of asbestos in the kit was high enough to cause cancer later in life for any unfortunate kids who happened to get the toy for Christmas. Sorry, little Johnny. Daddy just wanted you to love the TV shows he loves.

Magnetix

Construction sets have always been an extremely popular toy category, and manufacturers are always trying something new to create the next big thing when it comes to building systems. When the Magnetix brand of magnetic building toys was launched, they were an instant hit with children. Unfortunately, the tiny magnetic spheres that make up much of the kits looked a little too tasty for some kids. When the magnetic balls were swallowed, they tended to attract one another deep inside the digestive systems of the unfortunate youngsters who swallowed them. Dozens of children were seriously injured, and 22-month old Kenny Sweet died in 2005 after swallowing nine of the tiny magnet balls. The toys were recalledbut later re-released under a different name.

Aqua Dots

Aqua Dots were sold under many names - Bindeez, Beados, Pixos - but were the same toy: a construction kit composed of multi-colored plastic balls which could be solidified together when wet with water. Aqua Dots were massively popular after their releaseuntil it was found that several children had fallen into comas after consuming the beads. What is with kids and eating toys? At any rate, Aqua Dots were recalled in 2007 after it was found that their Chinese manufacturer had cut corners and substituted a cheaper chemical agent than the one specified by the toy’s designer. When children consumed the dots, the metabolic reactions in their stomachs led to the synthesis of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid - the date rape drug.

Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper

This toy bears the distinction of being solely responsible for the fact that all toys with small parts must now be labeled with a choking hazard warning. Mattel released the Colonial Viper spacecraft toy in 1978 response to the wildly popular science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The space plane came with the usual spring-loaded plastic missile, but of course, some children decided to shoot those missiles straight into their mouths. After a four-year-old child died from choking on the Viper’s missile, the toy was recalled. The short-lived toy has since become a collector’s item.

Sky Dancers

The San Francisco-based Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. is best known for their Micro Machines line of tiny toy cars. In 1994, Galoob attempted to move into the girls’ toy market with the launch of Sky Dancers, a line of high-flying female fairies which girls could send soaring from handheld launchers. Naturally, many children launched the spinning fairy toys much too close to their faces, resulting in dozens of scratched corneas and even a few children with permanent loss of vision.

Cabbage Patch Snacktime Dolls

The Cabbage Patch Kids dolls are one of the most successful toys of all time. After their launch in the 1980s, the creepy, dead-eyed dolls flew off of store shelves so fast that fist fights between parents over the last doll were a common sight in toy store aisles. That popularity was lessened somewhat in the 1990s with the release of the Cabbage Patch Snacktime Dolls, which were designed to “eat” fake food inserted into their creepy doll mouths. Unfortunately, the dolls had a bad habit of eating whatever else made it into their mouths, such as children’s hair or fingers. The dolls were recalled in 1997.

Lawn Darts

The creators of lawn darts must have launched the toy as a sick joke intended to thin out the gene pool. Lawn Darts, also called Javelin Darts or Jarts, were essentially a giant version of regular darts. These massive, sharp missiles measured 12 inches (30 cm) in length and had a weighted needle at one end designed to plunge into the ground at high speed. Naturally, this meant that any other organic matter in the Darts’ path - say, like a human head - could also be easily impaled. After several deaths and horrific injuries, the toys were banned.