Georgia Injury Law Blog
Buying toys and gifts for loved ones this season? Here are some tips to keep in mind, especially if shopping for young children.
Many popular toys come with severe injury risks, specifically the risk of eye injuries. Injuries involving toys are far too common to ignore. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that in 2014, there were approximately 251,800 injuries related to the use of toys reported to emergency rooms across the United States. That works out to approximately 500 child injuries every single day. Nearly 50% of these injuries involved children below the age of four. And a significant 44% of those injuries involved injuries to the face and head areas.
The eyes are especially vulnerable to impact from projectiles, or sharp edges on children’s toys. These injuries can be severe, and even have permanent effects on the victim. One study published recently in the JAMA Ophthalmology journal found that air guns, basketballs and baseballs cause approximately 50% of all sports-related eye injuries.