Beware the stocking-stuffers.

Many of the small, inexpensive toys that are popular gifts for children this time of year use batteries that contain mercury.

From flashing bouncing balls to a blinking lollipop, toymakers are using batteries with mercury because they are cheaper. These toys don’t typically last very long. They often don’t outlive their batteries before being discarded. But they represent a threat.

As the toys get tossed, they find themselves in landfills and incinerators, adding hundreds of pounds of mercury a year to the air. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one of every six women of child-bearing age has enough mercury in her body to cause learning disabilities in her children. And the National Academy of Sciences believes that 3 percent of the nation’s learning-disabled children suffer from mercury poisoning, and that mercury plays a role in the disabilities of another 25 percent of children.

New Hampshire has already banned these types of mercury batteries. Maine should follow that example and help make next year’s stocking-stuffers safer for kids and the environment.