Let me preface this by saying that I do not have children of my own:

All toys are safe, its the parents that aren't safe for their children. For example, do not let your child suck on their toys for hours on end, do not let your child eat plastic beads, don't give your child a plastic bag and leave them alone. Essentially don't give your child a toy and then leave them unattended for hours then blame someone else when something bad happened.

when I was a kid though, those wooden toy train sets were always fun, no small pieces and the like. Stuffed animals are always good too, but this is all depending on the age of the child.

So in my opinion just use common sense when buying a toy for your child.

Let the angry parental flaming begin

Erik

edit: I remembered the name of the Wooden toy company, BRIO, good stuff from what I remember, here be a link to their site:
brio.knex.com/