Toxic toys part of charitable handouts?

BOSTON. Scott Hewitt was taken aback when a Wal-Mart cashier in Hanover told him he couldn’t purchase a toy for his 2-year-old daughter’s birthday in September due to lead content.

He had a similar reaction when he saw a recent Metro photo showing the same toy being collected at a Toys for Tots event in South Boston last week.

“I know they’re trying to do a good thing,” said Hewitt, 41, who was unable to buy a ‘Go Diego Go’ water trike, one of hundreds of toys recalled in recent months due to toxic chemicals. “But if there’s one [toxic toy] out there, there could be easily be two, three, 10 or 20.”

A Toys for Tots spokesman did not indicate that the organization — a non-profit that collects toys for needy children in the area — had a screening process in place, but workers were in the local offices yesterday using hand-held devices to check each and every toy.

“They were [previously] trying to check all the toys they received against the recall list, which is kind of an arduous task,” said Monet MacGillivray, regional sales manager of Innov-X Systems, which provided the devices and some manpower yesterday. “I think they’re concerned like anyone else is, and they were all in favor of us coming in to screen the toys.”

Another of those lists MacGillivray referred to is set to be released today by a group of leading environmental health groups, including the Massachusetts Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. It will reveal the results of tests on more than

1,200 toys currently on shelves.

A ‘Go Diego Go’ backpack received one of the worst ratings on the site, with the eighth-highest level of lead.