Why was this 1960s toy irradiated

Well, you see it was the style at the time, we used to irradiate everything, chocolate, kids toys, clothing, even bed sheets had to have a little tag on the bottom, a jersey slip we call them, it was against the law to rip them off back then so we used to have to stick them back on whenever the inspector came, they used to dress with little bells on their feet so you knew they were coming, Sooo me and my friends would walk down to the bacon store, we had our own store for bacon back then, old Georgie’s bacon farm we used to call it, ran by a Vietnamese tailor, two taps for a whistle they’d say, but over in Montyville you could get one for a drop of daisy… Now it used to take three busses and a carriage to get there, but if you wore a bronzed kumquat on your lapel they would let you drive the boat, which were called dizzle burries, a fine dizzle burries would fetch you a quick Jill if you knew the right person, they’d always be hustling and bustling down by the depot, slinging their wares at you, Go away fiddler we’d yell, your charms don’t work here and we’d throw pellets of uranium at them