The Top Ten Most Dangerous Toys

As you're doing your Christmas shopping for the wee ones in your life, keep safety in mind. Here is a list of the 10 most dangerous play things of all time. From the obvious ones like cap gun belt buckles or hot plates to melt rubber on, to the more extreme "Atomic Energy Lab" the list is actually a pretty fun look at the more dangerous toys that have crossed the shelves in the past. Here is an exerpt from the description of a toy that I knew and loved as a child: lawn darts.

Removable parts? Suffocation risk? Lead paint? Pussy hazards compared to the granddaddy of them all. Lawn Darts, or "Jarts," as they were marketed, would never fly in our current ultra-paranoid, safety-helmeted, Dr. Phil toy culture. Lawn darts were massive weighted spears. You threw them. They stuck where they landed. If they happened to land in your skull, well, then you should have moved. During their brief (and generally awesome) reign in 1980s suburbia, Jarts racked up 6,700 injuries and four deaths.

I guess as an only child, this was a fairly safe game! The only danger I had was making sure I didn't spear the cat. Our set is still down in my mom's garage. Perhaps I should not introduce Daniel to the joys of Jarts...