Consumer Group Lists “10 Worst Toys” for Kids

James Swartz, director of World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., holds up toy battle hammer at Children’s Franciscan Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, November 19, 2014. The consumer watchdog group has released its annual list of what it considers to be the 10 most unsafe toys as the holiday season approaches. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

A light-up bow whose arrows are advertised as flying up to 145 feet and the “Catapencil” – a pencil with a miniature slingshot-style launcher on its end – are on an annual list of unsafe toys released Wednesday by a Massachusetts-based consumer watchdog group. World Against Toys Causing Harm, or W.A.T.C.H., issued the “10 Worst Toys” list to remind parents and consumers of the potential hazards in some toys as the holiday shopping season gets underway.

Organizers, who have been compiling the lists for over four decades, said the toys singled out this year are representative of some of the typical problems they come across and aren’t the only potentially dangerous products on the market. Many toys, he said, continue to have the same hazardous designs, including small, detachable parts that infants can choke on; strings that can cause strangulation; dangerous projectiles; and misleading or confusing warning labels and instructions.

Here’s W.A.T.C.H.’s full list of “worst toys” for 2014:

“Air Storm Firetek Bow” by Zing
“Ziggle” four-wheeled cycle by Radio Flyer
“Catapencil” by Toysmith
“Alphabet Zoo Rock & Stack Pull Toy” by Skip Hop
“SWAT Electric Machine Gun” by Junxing Toys Industrial Co.
“Wooden Instruments” sold at Wal-Mart
“Bottle Rocket Party” by Norman & Globus (ScienceWiz)
“Lil’ Cutesies-Best Friends” doll by JC Toys Group
“True Legends Orcs Battle Hammer” sold at Toys R Us
“Colored Hedgehog” plush toy sold at Toys R Us

James Swartz, director of World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., pulls back the rubber band on a Catapencil, a combination pencil and slingshot, at Children’s Franciscan Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, November 19, 2014. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

James Swartz, director of World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., holds up toy machine gun at Children’s Franciscan Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, November 19, 2014. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

Joan Siff, president of World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., holds up toy bow at Children’s Franciscan Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, November 19, 2014. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

James Swartz, director of World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., holds up a string on a children’s pull toy at Children’s Franciscan Hospital in Boston, Wednesday, November 19, 2014. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)