An interdisciplinary approach to assessing the safety of children’s toys (narrative literature review)

The article summarizes the results of the analysis of domestic and foreign reports devoted to the study of the safety of children’s toys. The articles were searched in scientific electronic libraries: eLIBRARY.RU, CyberLeninka, the PubMed information system, the ScienceDirect database, and the Elsevier information platform. The search depth is 7 years (2020–2026). Analytical and comparative methods were used to study the problem in the field of toy safety. Scientific articles were established to be presented in journals of various thematic profiles. For the most part, these are articles on the requirements of the technical regulations TR CU 008/2011 “On the safety of toys”, on the issues of counterfeit products entering the country, and articles on market research for children’s goods. An analysis of literary sources shows a small number of publications devoted to the hygienic assessment of toys. The works present the results of organoleptic, microbiological, and toxicological studies, and consider the psychological and pedagogical aspects of game products. However, there are no published reports on the study of the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) from electric toys. Toys are sources of EMF, including radio frequency range, in some cases as close as possible to the child’s body, as a result, the potential risk to children’s health increases. The development of modern electronic technologies is also penetrating the toy market, with more and more complex toys appearing every year – interactive, electronic and radio-controlled toys. In the current methodological document of the MUK 4.1/4.3.2038–05 “Sanitary and epidemiological assessment of toys” there are no methods for instrumental monitoring of EMF levels generated by children’s toys. Hygienic studies and updating of methodological documents in the field of electromagnetic safety of toys are required.

Contribution:
Kalinina N.I. – research concept and design, data analysis, text writing, editing;
Dubrovskaya E.N. – analysis of materials; editing;
Sladkova Yu.N., Kriyt V.E. – editing.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: April 17, 2026 / Revised: May 13, 2026 / Accepted: July 1, 2026 / Published: September 28, 2026

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