How to avoid toxic toys
Have all the headlines about toxic chemicals in toys made you confused about which products to buy your child? You're not alone. Even the experts are stumped when it comes to finding safe toys for their kids.
That's because insufficient labeling laws make it virtually impossible for consumers to know what toys are made of. So, even if you know to avoid lead (a developmental toxin) or phthalates (a group of hormone disrupting chemicals linked with a long list of adverse health effects), it's not easy to figure out which toys they're in.
Luckily there are some new tools for consumers who want to make informed choices. It's a good thing, too, because about one third of the 1,500 toys tested by the Ecology Center contained medium to high levels of toxic chemicals.
These resources will help you find safer toys:
- GoodGuide's team of scientists does the hard work for you. The company synthesizes data taken from numerous sources and rates toys based on environmental, social, and health attributes. Just click on a product to see if it's contaminated with lead, mercury, chlorine, or other unwanted chemicals. You can create a shopping list comprised of toys you want to buy and email or text it to your phone. Better yet, find out how to use your cell phone or iPhone to do product research while you're at the store.
- Search HealthyToys.org to get the test results for the 1,500-plus toys that the Ecology Center tested for harmful chemicals. While you're shopping, text 41411 and type in "healthytoys" plus the name of the toy you want info about. You'll get a text back with product information.
- Washington Toxics Coalition's Healthy Holiday Gift Guide offers buying tips and a partial list of safer products available.
- The Natural Resources Defense Council tells you how to avoid contaminated plastic toys.
Consumers can only do so much. We need the government to step in and protect our children by ensuring that unhealthy toys aren't on store shelves to begin with.
Congress passed a law earlier this year banning some phthalates and lowering allowable lead levels in toys. The law goes into effect in mid-February so it's not going to protect holiday shoppers. What's more, the Consumer Products Safety Commission recently said it's going to allow toys made before the February deadline to continue to be sold until stocks are depleted.
The upshot is that consumers will not know whether they are buying toxic toys even after the new law goes into effect. The NRDC launched a lawsuit, but you can get active too. You can ask the CPSC to reconsider its decision.
Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.
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