Toys containing a plastic-softening chemical linked to infertility and testicular cancer in men must be removed from store shelves by Feb. 10, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan on Thursday rejected the claim by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, that legislation banning the manufacture of toys containing phthalates by that date didn't bar the sale of toys already made.

"The plain text of the phthalate prohibition provides unequivocally and unambiguously that no covered products may be sold" as of Feb. 10, Gardephe said in his ruling.

Congress adopted the ban, which also applies to water bottles and other consumer products, in July, following the lead of regulators in Canada and Europe. After being contacted by lawyers for "several wholesale and retail entities," the CPSC's general counsel issued an opinion in November exempting products made before the deadline, the judge said.

The CPSC "has decided to seek neither a stay nor an appeal," agency spokesman Joe Martyak said in an e-mail.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based nonprofit organization, sued the CPSC, seeking a ruling that the congressional ban also applied to existing inventory. The group was joined in the suit by Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer advocate.