Consumer / Kirstin Cole

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― Federal regulators sought Tuesday to restore parents' confidence in toy safety, urging vigilance during the busy holiday shopping season with little mention of lead hazards that have prompted a record number of toy recalls.

Consumer groups, though, warned that they found numerous cases where toys that posed a choking hazard or lead danger had improperly made it to store shelves. "Consumers looking for toys still face an industry full of safety loopholes," said the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Three days before the start of the busy shopping season, Nancy Nord, acting chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, issued safety tips in a two-page release that called on parents to "stay informed" about safety risks by reading product warning labels and signing up for direct e-mail notification of recalls at www.cpsc.gov.

Among the biggest toy hazards cited by CPSC:

• Riding toys, skateboards and inline skates that could cause dangerous falls for children.

• Toys with small parts that can cause choking hazards, particularly for children under age 3.

• Toys with small magnets, particularly for children under age 6, that can cause serious injury or death if the magnets are swallowed.

• Projectile toys such as air rockets, darts and sling slots for older children that can cause eye injuries.

• Chargers and adapters that can pose burn hazards to children.

"Toys today are undergoing more inspection and more intense scrutiny than every before," Nord said in a statement, citing CPSC's "daily commitment to keeping consumers safe 365 days a year."

The agency noted that the Chinese government recently had signed agreements to help prevent lead-painted toys from reaching the U.S., and that the CPSC was "taking the action needed to remove violative products from the marketplace."

Consumer groups weren't so sure.

In its 57-page annual survey, U.S. PIRG agreed that toys with small magnets as well as small parts that pose choking hazards create significant risks.

Between 1990 and 2005, at least 166 children choked to death on children's products, accounting for more than half of all toy-related deaths at a rate of about 10 deaths per year, the group said. Several times this year potentially dangerous toys were sold without the required warning labels of possible choking risks while the CPSC also has been slow to issue public warnings, U.S. PIRG said.

U.S. PIRG and Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Environmental Health also pointed to continuing risks involving lead-tainted toys, millions of which were recalled this year. They cited weak laws that only clearly ban lead in paint.

The findings come as both the House and Senate consider legislation that would overhaul the product safety system by substantially increasing CPSC's budget, raising the cap on civil penalties for violations and giving the CPSC authority to provide quicker notice to the public of potentially dangerous products.

The measures also seek to ban officials at federal regulating agencies from taking trips financed by industries they oversee. Both Nord and her predecessor as chairman, Hal Stratton, accepted free trips worth thousands of dollars at industry expense.

On Monday, California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued 20 companies in state court, including Mattel Inc. and Toys "R" Us, claiming they sold toys containing "unlawful quantities of lead." If the suit is successful, the companies could pay a $2,500 fine for each violation, according to the complaint.

The move follows major recalls of toys, lunch boxes, children's jewelry and other goods during the last year by CPSC.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)