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As Black Friday last week launched the official start of the holiday shopping season, many Americans are unaware that toxic toys still line the shelves of most stores. A controversy earlier in the year of Chinese-made toys tainted with chemicals led to the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in August. That Act bans the sale of toys containing pthalates starting February 2009. But now the government has informed manufacturers that they can keep selling the toxic toys until their inventories run out.

GUEST: Erin Steva, Issue Advocate at Calpirg. For more information, visit www.toysafety.net and www.calpirg.org.