The 22nd annual toy safety survey by the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group is like a thick catalog of ways to injure or kill your children.

Balloons, scooters, marbles, magnets, toys with lead paint, toys that disintegrate into choking hazards and cosmetics for children are all listed along with photos of the toys and descriptions of the harm they can cause.

The report, released just days before people start rushing stores to buy for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza, notes that 2007 has been the year of the toy recall. A record 30 million toys have been recalled this year for violating consumer protection standards.

"The Consumer Products Safety Commission budget is less than half of what it was 30 years ago," said U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, who appeared with representatives of PennPIRG and United Steelworkers union to release the information on dangerous toys. Mr. Doyle said the Consumer Products Safety Commission now has one full-time toy inspector and 15 port inspectors to cover the entire country.

He is cosponsoring legislation that would boost the commission's budget so that consumers have better government protections. It also would increase the fines for violating safety standards from $2 million to $10 million.

Fred Redmond, vice president of the Steelworkers, said it's not just foreign-made toys that have been recalled, but also tires that have fallen apart on the road, pet food that has killed animals, and steel from China that is so toxic that it is hazardous to the workers who weld it together.

James Browning, the director of PennPIRG, said it's incredible that decades after lead was determined to be unsafe for children that it still would be found in the paint used for children's toys.

Mr. Browning said the Curious George doll, which was recalled, had lead all over its face, right where a small child would kiss it. Other products for children with lead were metal zipper pulls, the yellow cow in a farm set from China and a necklace shaped like the letter H.

The hazards can keep parents up all night.

One 9-year-old girl swallowed magnetic jewelry while pretending she had a pierced tongue. The magnets, attracted to each other, caused perforations in her bowel and part of her colon.

Children under the age of 8 shouldn't play with balloons because of the possibility they could choke. Children also choke on marbles and toys that come apart, such as the tires that fall off of HotWheels and the log that is cut apart in the Thomas the Tank Engine toy sawmill. Mr. Browning said the easiest way to check for a choking hazard is that if a toy fits down a toilet paper roll it is small enough to choke a child.

PennPIRG listed scooters as a major cause of injuries -- 58,400 in 2005.

Then there are the loud toys that can damage a child's hearing, such as the Power Gear Max 10 Fazer, which measures in at 107 decibels when held a centimeter away from someone's ear. Hearing loss can be caused by noise above 85 decibels. The Boom Blasters Sax also was so loud children could lose their hearing.

Even water yo-yos, those pretend yo-yos with a water-weighted bottom on a rubbery elastic cord, can wrap around a child's neck and cause strangulation.

"There are safe alternatives out there," Mr. Browning said. "The key thing is the watchdog isn't barking,"