Taylor Bethard said when she walked into her almost 1-year-old daughter Esther Johanna Faith Bethard's room on July 7, 2023, she was not expecting to find her baby not breathing.
"Our sweet Esther Jo is gone all because of a toy," she said.
Bethard said her daughter had swallowed a water bead, a ball of super absorbent polymer that expands when exposed to water.
"When I learned that a water bead is what caused her death, I was shocked," Bethard said. "We hadn't even had them out to play with in months. I followed the directions. There is no warning about what could happen if ingested."
Now, Bethard is an advocate with That Water Bead Lady, a nonprofit that helps families navigate life after product injury.
She was one of several speakers at Lurie Children's Hospital earlier this week to discuss the 40th annual "Trouble in Toyland" report from the Illinois PIRG Education Fund.
PIRG State Director Abe Scarr said since the mid-1980s, the report has looked at trends to determine the potential dangers facing children each holiday season.
"This year, the report focuses on toxics in toys, as well as the new frontier of AI toys," he said. "The report goes over ongoing threats like counterfeits of popular toys, water beads, button batteries and high powered magnets."
Scarr said while the report has resulted in roughly 150 recalls and other regulatory actions, it's still very easy to find recalled toys for sale in online marketplaces.
"We analyzed records from thousands of shipments that were hit with violation notices at the border from the first half of 2025," he said. "We found 500 of those shipments that were toys, and of those 120 toy shipments, that included toxic chemicals like lead and phthalates."
That's why Scarr advises shoppers to do their research when shopping from online resellers.
"If you're doing any shopping on an online reselling website like eBay, Facebook Marketplace or others, be sure to be checking in for the recalled products list, which you can find at saferproducts.gov," he said.
Lurie emergency room physician Dr. Elizabeth Powell said when it comes to dangers with ingestion, the biggest concerns are magnets and batteries.
"Button batteries cause trouble if the kids swallow them, and they get stuck in their esophagus ... a button battery can make a hole and can cause significant injury," she said. "Magnets are an issue because when kids swallow more than one, what can happen is that it can get in the intestinal tract, and then if you get two or more, and they're highly powerful, they can come together and pull separate pieces of the intestine together and cause a blockage."
Another big topic in this year's report is toys that are powered by artificial intelligence.
"AI toys are basically stuffed animals or toy robots that have a chat bot like Chat GPT embedded in them and can have conversations with children," said Ellen Hengesbach, Associate with the Illinois PIRG Education Fund.
She said though this market is new, it will likely grow, as more companies explore ways to incorporate AI into their products. Mattel, the maker of Barbie, for example, announced a collaboration with OpenAI, the company behind chat GPT, earlier this year.
Hengesbach said after testing many of these products, they found that many of these AI toys share inappropriate content with kids and use new tactics to keep kids playing with the toy for longer.
And while some companies have removed their toys from the market, Hengesbach said AI toys are still practically unregulated, making it easy for consumers to get their hands on them.
She said another concern with AI toys is what the long-term impacts are on kids.
"Some experts are sounding the alarm that this is a massive experiment on kids' social development," she said. "These products call themselves your buddy, your friend, your companion, but AI friends don't act the same way real friends do."
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky also spoke at the event. For decades she has partnered with various organizations to advance legislation that ensures toy safety and product safety.
"Big tech has had its way with consumers, even with children," she said. "I have tried very hard to be able to rein in big tech and make sure that everything is always safe for children."
Schakowsky is retiring at the end of her term but said she will continue to fight for children's safety.
"I am hoping that in the short time that I'm still here in the Congress of the United States that we can identify the kinds of things, along with PIRG and along with the people who are experts on this and make sure that we can warn ahead," she said.