The Year of the Recall-how can we fix this?

There are several blogs I read daily, and mom-101 is one of my favorites. this is a smart mom with a great sense of humor. I was reading this post:

Mom-101: The Year of the Recall: Got questions? You're going to get answers.

this extremely well written post is talking yet again about all of the recalls in children's toys. Except this time she has found someone who is willing to answer questions from parents, someone from the toy industry association who handles public relations.



At this point there are toys in my home that are on recall lists but not bought during the specified time frames, one of them a Diego jeep that my son plays with almost daily if not several times a day.

When I followed the Illinois link in mom 101 posts I found a recall list I had not seen before. I also found a set of rakes, shovels and brooms sold at Joann stores that I bought for my son for Easter so he could help with yard work. As a matter of fact I handed the rake to my son two weeks ago when we were out raking leaves, and I can see it lying in the middle of my back yard from my kitchen window.





I feel that toys before the recalls this year probably where affected, just not tested. But since the recalls are specific to the paint color on a part of toy ( a red nose for instance) I don't want to take away toys my son loves without knowing. So i have a few questions, how do we dispose of toys that are affected?, Will there be any testing of toys sold in the last few years? Do I assume my toys are safe or just throw them out? How can I trust any toys coming into my home, and how do you purchase gifts for other peoples children?

i guess the bigger picture is how do we know if toys we have are safe and how do we make this stop? environmental lead exposure is a big enough problem(older homes, peeling paint etc.) when it isn't marketed directly to children in the form of their favorite television characters.