It was an ordinary afternoon for a seven-year-old girl in Karachi. She was watching cartoons while playing with one of her favourite squishy dumpling toys, squeezing it in her hands as she watched television. Then, without warning, the toy ruptured, spilling a sticky liquid onto both her hands and the table. Moments later, her mother, Areeba Iqbal, heard her scream. Iqbal, 39, rushed to her daughter and tried wiping the substance off with a cloth. But the girl complained that it was hurting even more. She then attempted to wash it away, only to find that the gooey liquid was difficult to remove from her daughter's skin. “I first tried wiping it off with a cloth, but she said it was hurting more. Then I tried washing it off, but it wasn't coming off her skin,” Iqbal recalls. The family took the child to hospital, where, according to Iqbal, doctors removed the remaining substance and prescribed topical treatment for the resulting skin injury. It took approximately a month for her daughter's skin to heal, but the affected area remained discoloured. What makes the incident particularly troubling for Iqbal is how harmless the toy had seemed when they bought it. Her daughter had first discovered squishy dumplings through children's vlogs on YouTube. During a visit to a popular toy shop in a shopping mall, she recognised the toy and persuaded her parents to buy one. Later, after watching children displaying complete collections in their videos, she wanted the entire range. Over time, her parents bought her the collection. The packaging indicated that the toy was suitable for children aged three and above. Since their daughter was seven, Iqbal saw no reason to question its suitability. She says there was no clear information identifying the manufacturer or country of origin, nor any specific warning about the contents of the toy. For Iqbal, it was simply another toy her daughter had wanted after watching adverts about it online. She had little reason to imagine that something bought for playtime would eventually require a visit to hospital. Her experience raises a wider question about the toys reaching Pakistani markets, particularly cheaper versions of products popularised through social media: how much do parents really know about what their children are playing with? From screen to shelf For toy retailers, keeping up with what children are watching online has become an important part of doing business. At a toy shop in a shopping mall in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, Waheed Ahmed has seen how quickly a toy featured in a popular video can turn into something children begin asking for at the counter. Initially, Ahmed and his staff were often unfamiliar with the toys customers requested. Children would arrive with their parents looking for particular products, leaving the shopkeepers wondering where the demand was coming from. Eventually, they realised that children's vlogs and social media trends were influencing what customers wanted. “Earlier, we weren't even aware of these toys, but children and parents would come and ask for specific ones. Then we realised where the demand was coming from, and now we keep an eye on the toys being shown in online videos and try to have them in our store,” Ahmed explains. The change has also affected how suppliers operate. According to Ahmed, wholesalers now monitor popular videos and regularly introduce toys that are gaining attention online. Products that once took months to reach Pakistani shops can now appear in a matter of days, sometimes without retailers having to arrange imports themselves. He recalls the popularity of Labubu dolls, when his shop stocked several versions in different sizes and designs to meet customer demand. Some, he says, were locally produced variations that were not available in the international market. The differences between the original toys and their cheaper alternatives are not always obvious to customers. Ahmed says the materials, packaging and printing may differ considerably, even when the overall appearance is similar. “There is a clear difference between the original and the cheaper version in terms of quality, packaging and printing. But if a customer sees the local version first, they might not realise it isn't the original. Someone who has seen the original can usually tell the difference immediately,” he says. For retailers, the challenge is no longer simply identifying what children want. It is making sure those products are available before the trend fades. With suppliers responding quickly and multiple versions of popular toys entering the market, the pressure to stock new products has increased. But while toys can now reach shop shelves much faster than before, the question is whether the checks on their materials and manufacturing quality are keeping pace. What's inside the toy? The concerns surrounding children's toys are not limited to how easily they break or whether their contents are visible to parents. Some risks are harder to identify, particularly when potentially harmful substances are present in the plastic, paint or other materials used to manufacture them. In 2022, a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research examined 44 low-priced plastic toys purchased from markets in Karachi. Conducted by researchers associated with the University of Karachi and a local environmental laboratory, the study tested toys for seven metals, including lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel, and compared the findings with international safety benchmarks. The results raised concerns about the materials used in some of the products. Of the 23 unpainted plastic toys tested, 19, or 83 per cent, contained lead concentrations exceeding the European Union benchmark used by the researchers, while 15, or 65 per cent, exceeded the corresponding benchmark for cadmium. Among the 21 painted or coated toys, nine exceeded the comparison limit for lead and five for cadmium. The presence of these metals is particularly concerning for younger children, who frequently put toys and their fingers in their mouths. Lead exposure can affect brain development, learning and behaviour, while prolonged exposure to cadmium can damage the kidneys and other organs. However, the findings do not necessarily mean that every child playing with the tested toys would absorb harmful quantities of these substances. The researchers measured total metal concentrations, whereas actual exposure depends on how much of a substance can escape from the material and enter the body. The study also examined a limited sample and cannot establish the safety of every toy sold in Pakistan. The concerns are not new. In March 2010, a leading daily English-language newspaper reported that laboratory testing of 14 imported toys collected from Karachi markets had identified toxic metals and chemicals, including lead, cadmium and phthalates. The investigation, which involved testing at Karachi University's centralised science laboratory, raised questions about the absence of adequate checks on toys entering the market. While both investigations focused on potentially harmful substances, other toys can present serious risks through their physical design or small components. A case series published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association in January 2024 documented three children treated at Indus Hospital in Karachi after swallowing magnetic objects. All three required surgery. One case involved a six-year-old girl who had swallowed magnetic balls obtained as a toy from an online store. Doctors discovered that several magnets had become lodged in her intestines, causing multiple perforations. Surgeons removed 16 magnetic balls along with other small metal objects and had to remove a damaged section of her intestine. The child subsequently recovered. Unlike chemical exposure, the danger in such cases comes from the powerful attraction between swallowed magnets, which can trap intestinal tissue and cause internal injuries. Together, these findings and medical cases illustrate the different ways children's toys can present hazards, whether through materials that cannot be assessed by sight or components that appear harmless until something goes wrong. They also raise the question of what safety checks, if any, products undergo before reaching shop shelves. Who is checking? Despite the potential risks, determining whether a toy is safe is not always straightforward, even for the people selling it. While customers may rely on packaging, age recommendations and the reputation of a shop, retailers themselves may have limited information about the materials used in the products they stock. Ahmed acknowledges that the suppliers he deals with do not always provide documentation confirming that their toys have undergone safety testing. Nor does his shop independently verify every product before putting it on sale. “To be honest, local suppliers don't provide any kind of certification for these toys, and we don't have time to get them checked. If we miss the trend, we lose the market, so we have to be quick and among the first to bring the toy into our store,” he says. Ahmed admits that this approach carries risks. He believes some suppliers may use cheaper materials to reduce manufacturing costs without fully considering their suitability for children's products. The problem, he says, is that retailers often have little means of establishing exactly what has gone into making a toy. Packaging offers limited reassurance. According to Ahmed, some inexpensive products carry warnings and descriptions copied from the original branded versions, despite differences in the materials used to manufacture them. In such cases, information printed on the packaging may not accurately describe the product inside. Customer complaints are another concern. Ahmed says his shop has received complaints about poor-quality toys, although he does not describe any specific case involving a serious injury. Some cheaper products are sold under a no-return or no-exchange policy because the shop is already aware that their quality is inferior. “We receive complaints about low-quality toys, but while selling them, we tell customers that these products cannot be exchanged or returned because we know the quality isn't good,” he explains. The question, however, extends beyond individual retailers. What standards must a toy meet before it can be sold in Pakistan, and who is responsible for ensuring manufacturers, importers and sellers comply? When contacted for the story, Gul Sanober, Director Standards at the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), said she had asked the concerned department to review the existing standards relating to children's toys. According to Sanober, the department was examining how many relevant standards were available, how old they were and whether they required revision or the adoption of additional standards. She explained that standards development involves technical committees and can be initiated through proposals, requests from stakeholders, government ministries or an identified national need, within the framework of the World Trade Organisation's Technical Barriers to Trade agreement. At the time of the interview, Sanober was unable to provide a definitive account of the standards applicable to toys. She said further information would be available once the department completed its review. Her preliminary response therefore leaves important questions unanswered, particularly whether the relevant standards are mandatory, how compliance is monitored and what action is taken when potentially unsafe toys are identified. Ahmed, meanwhile, believes stronger oversight is necessary. Although he argues that some manufacturers may lack awareness of the hazards associated with poor-quality materials, he also acknowledges that retailers have a responsibility to pay greater at