How to Tell if Your Dollar Store Purchase Is Safe

Can you trust the items from your local Dollarama to be safe? A feature in the August issue of Reader's Digest warns of the health pitfalls of dollar store purchases and offers some helpful advice.

Electrical Products: Before you buy that dollar store extension cord or package of light bulbs, check to see if it has a certification mark from either the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) or the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Reader's Digest advises.

A CSA or UL certification mark on a product means that it has been independently tested and meets applicable standards for safety and/or performance.

Without a certification mark, that extension cord you just bought may prove to be a shock or fire hazard, the article says. Even with a certification mark, you have to be careful. Evidently, there are fakes out there. Flimsy packaging and misspelling on packaging may be signs the certification mark is counterfeit.This illustration, copied from the UL website, shows all of the features of a genuine UL certification mark:

Check the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) website for instructions on how to spot fake certification marks.

Canadian Standards Association (CSA) also has tips on spotting fake CSA certification marks.

Kids' toys and jewelery: Toxic materials in products for children has been a concern for some time, but these products aren't only found in dollar stores.

Lead, obviously, is a big no-no. It's poisonous if swallowed and too much exposure leads to a whole host of health problems. Cadmium is often substituted for lead in toys and jewelry, according to RD, but it can cause cancer if sucked on or swallowed.

So how can the average Joe and Josephine tell if something we bought the kids has lead in it? According to Health Canada, items made with a high percentage of lead are typically heavy for their size. If it's not coated, the item may leave a gray mark on a piece of white paper when rubbed against it. You can buy lead testing kits for home use but a Consumer Reports article says they aren't very reliable, and that seems to be the opinion of Health Canada as well.

Bottom line: If it's a cheap, heavy piece of jewelry and you're not sure if it's safe, don't buy it.

Vitamins or other health supplements: I may be out of the loop, but I don't know of any dollar stores in Canada that sell vitamins and minerals. They do in the U.S., but that's a whole different kettle of fish. At any rate, if you ever do find vitamins or other health supplements in a dollar store, here's what you need to know:

Legitimate products have an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), a Natural Product Number (NPN ) or a Homeo-pathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM ) on the label and packaging. If that bottle of vitamins you're looking at doesn't have one of these numbers on it, you could be holding something that has the wrong or dangerous ingredients in it. At the very least, these products may actually contain no active ingredients at all. Steer clear.

Other warning signs?

Reader's Digest offers tips in the article on other signs a dollar store product is not safe, such as avoiding products with no manufacturer information or those that lack English and French on the packaging -- but it's not clear how these products could be harmful. Presumably, if a company flouts the standards for providing packaging information, they can't be counted on to uphold safety or manufacturing standards. Or, if the product was made in another country, it may have been subject to different standards entirely. The article's explanation is that, without the packaging information typically required in Canada, there is no recourse if the product is faulty.

But we're talking about products with a maximum price tag of $2. If a $2 product doesn't work out, I just toss it.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips and ideas for home decorating using only items from the dollar store.