PITTSBURGH -- Anybody with children probably has toys containing a chemical that will soon be banned in the United States.

This past summer, U.S. Congress agreed to ban six types of phthalates from children’s toys.

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Phthalates are chemicals that make plastic softer and more durable, but they are also suspected of causing serious health problem.

Maryann Donovan is Scientific Director for the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

She is very familiar with phthalates and said, “There is concern about biological effects. They (phthalates) can act as endocrine disrupters, they can disrupt hormones. In animal studies they've seen health effects from developmental problems to cancer. These toxins, phthalates in particular affect males it seems more than females.”

Many consumer advocates see the phthalate ban as a good move, but are worried because it doesn’t take effect until Feb. 10, 2010.

That means many of those toys are being sold during the holiday season.

Donovan said, “When the law was passed in the summer there was a provision to allow the existing toys to be sold, so I think parents need to be extremely cautious this year.”

But finding out what toys contain phthalates or any chemical is not easy.

Donovan said there is no way to know just by looking at the toy, none of the chemicals are listed on the packaging.

Now parents have a tool to help them find out just what chemicals many toys contain.

It’s a Web site called healthytoys.org.

The site lists over 1,200 toys and rates them from low to high risk based on how many chemicals they contain. Channel 11 bought several toys at local stores and checks them on the healthytoys.org Web site.

A Fisher Price toy medical kit got a high rating from the Web site. It contained a medium level of phthalates, but it had high levels of lead and arsenic.

A package of Party Like Crazy Slinkies contained a medium level of phthalates, but high levels of lead and cadmium.

And a toy soldier had phthalates and high levels of lead and arsenic.

According to Donovan, heavy metals like lead, cadmium and arsenic are especially dangerous for children.

“Cadmium is a heavy metal, an endocrine disruptor. A lot of these toxins target the developing brain or have behavioral effects. Chemicals that act like hormones are more dangerous because very small concentrations have very big effects”, Donovan said.

For years phthalates have been banned in Europe, so toy companies make toys without phthalates for that market, but continue to sell toys with the chemical in the U.S.

Why the difference?

According to Donovan in the U.S., “We tend to be convinced we have to have incontrovertible proof that something causes harm before we’ll do something about it. In Europe they have a precautionary principal. They’ve evaluated the data and feel what they see is of concern, so they don’t need to use it. They’re eliminating toxins as they come upon them, where we’re still arguing whether or not it’s a problem.”

Find out why not all toys in China contain chemicals.