Question regarding toys

I have two dogs a Lhasa Apso and a Labrador retriever, both are one year old. A friend of us from London got 'Pet essentials' 3 squeaky vinyl toys. Both Lhasa Apso and Lab doesn't seem to enjoy any of them. Is it because of the odor? Both are generally very playful. Is it advisable to give pets toys made of Vinyl?

sruthi,
You had raised a good question.

Here is what I got from the net..hope it is useful.

You would be happy that your pets are not playing with those vinyl toys.

Vinyl and plastic dog toys contain a chemical compound that has been under investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) due to possible cancer risks to humans. The chemical in question is DINP (di-isononyl phthalate), used to make hard PVC plastic soft and pliable. In 1998 Health Canada issued an advisory warning about the dangers of mouthing soft plastic toys by small children, and some countries, such as Sweden, Germany, and Italy, have already phased out DINP for use in children's toys. But, for some reason no one is talking about the effects DINP may have on our dog's health.

Scientific research has shown that DINP can be toxic to lab animals, causing liver and kidney damage and at higher levels of exposure, increased cancer incidence. These findings prompted even further review of exposures to children due to mouthing soft plastic toys. These studies focused on small children who generally only mouth toys for brief periods during a small fraction of their lifespan. Dogs, in contrast, may chew and ingest soft vinyl toys for hours at a time throughout their entire lives.

According to vinylfacts.com, "almost all soft plastic toys contain PVC," so avoid these types of toys if you're concerned about the health risks mentioned above. Natural rubber or latex soft toys provide a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative.

More recently, lead was found in children's toys mainly coming from China. This prompted an investigation into dog toys. Nancy Rogers a woman who owns three dogs,was alarmed when children's toys started being pulled from store shelves for testing positive with lead, Rogers says she started to wonder about the safety of her pets' toys... "Every toy we picked up had a made in China tag on it," she told CBS 2. When she couldn't find toys made in the U.S. to replace them, Rogers, a registered nurse, decided it was worth almost $200 to have all 24 of her dogs' toys tested for lead. "The highest was 335.7 parts per million," she says. That amount was found in a tennis ball toy, and while it's less than the federally acceptable levels of lead in children's toys, Rogers was still very concerned because these toys are constantly in her dogs' mouths."

After they started recalling children's toys made in China due to the levels of lead in them, ConsumerAffairs.com hired a lab to test cat and dog toys from WalMart, and other agencies and private people did the same with toys from Petsmart, Petco, the dollar stores, etc. They found that many of the dog and cat toys made in China included lead, chromium, and cadmium - some in very high dosages. No one is sure just what prolonged exposure to these can do to dogs, but the short-term symptoms are loss of appetite, diarrhea, and aggressive behavior.

Damn, Thanks for the enlightening info!