ABSTRACT
This chapter considers trends in globalized production and consumption and the toy industry's place in these trends and discusses hazards in toy production and use. It provides an overview of toy industry statistics and reviews the regulatory frameworks in the United States and Europe for ensuring toy safety. The chapter looks at citizen activism and corporate responses to hazards in the toy industry. The highly competitive toy industry provides a fertile arena to evaluate the globalization of production and consumption and the inequitable distribution of risks and benefits. Women are drawn into the labor force as low-wage laborers in the toy industry and other sectors; increasingly they are found in the informal sector as maids or sex workers, where working conditions are extremely oppressive. The global toy industry has made great efforts to ensure consumers that vinyl toys are safe and that phthalates do not pose a health or environmental hazard.
