"It's unclear what effects the Uranium-bearing ores might have had on those few lucky children who received the set, but exposure to the same isotope—U-238—has been linked to Gulf War syndrome, cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma, among other serious ailments. Even more uncertain is the longterm impact of being raised by the kind of nerds who would give their kid an Atomic Energy Lab. "

This fact is now even more amazing to me. Between the two of us (and some hand-me-down toys from older cousins and gifts given to my nieces) my brother and I had almost all of the toys on this list. Our friends and neighbors and nieces had other toys on this list. Suffice to say, with the exception of the Atomic Energy Lab, Power Wheels Motorcycle and Mini Hammock (seriously, you have to see the illustration for this thing. What amazes me is not that kids died in the hammock but that anyone bought the things based on that illustration in the first place), I have close personal experience with most of the toys on this list. The kind of weird thing to me is that neither my brother or I or our parents (or aunts and uncles) were apparently concerned about the safety features (or lack thereof) with these toys. Though for the record I staged a protest over the Cabbage Patch doll. Okay, sure, it was more of a protest on principle than on safety concerns of a chewing doll. Still. I didn't like the thing and didn't like the idea of our family buying into the Cabbage Patch empire. I'm happy to report my niece survived the chewing Cabbage Patch doll with all her digits, nose and hair unscathed. I'm guessing if she doesn't already have recurring nightmares about a demonic doll chewing and chewing and chewing and chewing and gnawing and chewing, she will one day. But because my sister didn't get rid of the doll when it was recalled there's little recourse now. Unless Mattel sees fit to pay for therapy for the emotionally scarred kids who had to deal with the evil maniacally chewing doll at too young of an age.

My nieces (and the rest of my familly) also survived the assault of the Sky Dancers with body parts, a semblance of sanity and most of the household goods unharmed. I will say though, I remember thinking those things might not be appropriate for very young girls unaccustomed to dealing with whirling blades of death. This is the advantage those of us with older brothers have over the girls who live in soft pink cushy households with nothing scarier than a My Little Pony. Those of us with older brothers learn very early that life is not one pink powder puff trip and you better learn how to either duck, fast, or catch objects hurling at you without maiming yourself in the process.

My brother was a Star Wars geek for two weeks back in the '70s. Riding his wave of enthusiasm, my dad made the presumption that my brother also liked Battlestar Gallactica. I don't think my brother actually liked the show, but, he sure did love the rocketeering/missile toys my dad got for him that year. My brother was nearly of legal drinking age when he received this airborne gift, but that didn't stop him and my dad and I from spending countless hours launching Battlestar Gallactica missiles at each other. It brought back all the happy memories of the delightful family bonding time we spent playing with the Star Trek disc launcher, which I notice didn't make the dangerous toys list. Which really surprised me because those things really hurt when they hit you. Those discs packed a powerful amount of velocity punch. My parents replaced the rain gutters on their house a few years ago. My dad took a look at the old gutters when they were on the ground waiting to be hauled away. In the gutter from the second story of the house he found one of those Star Trek discs and a Cylon Ranger among other toys just the right size to be ensnared by a rain gutter when thrown, launched or otherwise set aloft by enthusiastic kids trying to push velocity and height records.