Friday, February 25, 2011
Tagless garments
We recently learned that tagless garments may be harmful (also this). This is not recent news, just recent to us. More stuff to avoid. Sigh.....
Sunday, January 23, 2011
One brand to stay away from
Unfortunately, Fisher-Price not only doesn't reveal their materials, they explicitly state that they are "proprietary". Well, if they won't tell us what's in the products they want our baby to put in her mouth, we just won't give her their products. Oh well.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Randy's research/primer on toy safety
I've been doing a bunch of research on toy safety recently, and unfortunately it doesn't look good overall. Jill and I both feel really uncomfortable making specifications for what people can and can't give to Charlotte, but we also feel really uncomfortable letting her put things in her mouth that we're not, well, comfortable with.
Here's a "quick" primer on what my research has turned up. First of all, being approved by any of the following acronyms tells you only that a toy is probably legal to sell in the US: FDA, CPSC, JPMA. The first two are underfunded government bodies with hardly any power and too much industry influence. The last is a manufacturer's association whose primary concern is to look out for #1: the manufacturers.
To play it safe, we are only buying toys which are free of all of the following materials, all of which are legal according to the above acronymed organizations, but none of which are good for babies:
BPA (Bisphenol-A): Mostly encountered in hard plastics, particularly clear hard plastics (including tinted but still see-through). But it hides in other plastics, too, so look for "BPA-free" on the package. If it is made entirely of wood, it is probably BPA-free even if not so labelled.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride): Straight PVC is a hard, opaque plastic. But plasticizers (see phthalates below) are often added to make it elastic, rubbery, or flexible (like vinyl upholstery, which is PVC plus plasticizers). Hard PVC with no plasticizers is an environmental disaster, with the manufacturing processes endangering the factory workers and polluting the environment with nasty stuff -- but it is probably "safe" after manufacturing. Therefore, we want to avoid hard PVC if possible for environmental reasons, but the fact is that we are willing to give hard PVC to Charlotte if we're sure it does not contain plasticizers (read on).
Phthalates and other plasticizers: These are bad news. Phthalates are the most common plasticizer used to make PVC soft. Look for "phthalate-free" and "PVC-free" on anything with soft plastic parts.
If not labelled otherwise, it is most likely that hard clear plastic contains BPA, hard opaque plastic is PVC, and soft/flexible/elastic plastic is PVC with phthalates. That pretty much eliminates 90% of
the toys on the market. The good news is that in the past few years a whole bunch of new toy companies have sprouted up which are dedicated to making healthy toys without any of that stuff. (I will add the ones I've found so far to the left.) And as I said, we'll give her hard PVC toys, too, and while we'll shed a ear for the environment, it probably won't hurt her directly.
One way to avoid all of the above is to go with non-plastic toys. But wooden toys should be checked to see what claims are made about the paints and sealers used. "Non-toxic" means simply that it doesn't contain lead or other heavy metals, but that doesn't mean it doesn't contain things that aren't also a bit unhealthy. Look for "water-based" or "natural" paints and sealers.
The other thing to look out for in wooden toys in particular is that somebody somewhere in the manufacturing chain may actually have used a paint they weren't supposed to (e.g., containing lead), and just lied about it. This is where the "Made in China" problem comes in. Unless it is a trustworthy brand with a focus on making healthy toys (i.e., *NOT* any of the large manufacturers with household names like Fisher-Price, but rather a low-volume boutique-y brand), I think it is best to avoid made in China, particularly in painted wooden toys. This isn't because we have anything against China, but it's the law of the jungle over there with respect to manufacturing practices, and neither our government nor their government is doing any oversight, so it's up to the brands to supervise their manufacturers, and consumers to supervise the brands.
Oddly enough, I am much more willing to buy plastic/silicone toys that are made in China than to buy wooden toys from China, so long as they are from a good brand which prominently advertises "BPA-free,
PVC-free, phthalate-free".
Cloth/stuffed toys are another option. Alas, there are problems here, too. Some fabric dyes are toxic, and if it's made in China, you can't trust that they didn't use toxic dyes. The best bet with fabric is to
either buy only reputable (boutique-y) brands or look for "certified organic" or "Oeko-Tex" on the label (many European brands are Oeko-Tex certified these days, which is great).
If in doubt, ask us. Just tell us the manufacturer and I'll look into it. Sorry to be a pain about it! We really would rather not have to worry about this stuff, and we particularly hate asking other people to worry about it.
-Randy
Here's a "quick" primer on what my research has turned up. First of all, being approved by any of the following acronyms tells you only that a toy is probably legal to sell in the US: FDA, CPSC, JPMA. The first two are underfunded government bodies with hardly any power and too much industry influence. The last is a manufacturer's association whose primary concern is to look out for #1: the manufacturers.
To play it safe, we are only buying toys which are free of all of the following materials, all of which are legal according to the above acronymed organizations, but none of which are good for babies:
BPA (Bisphenol-A): Mostly encountered in hard plastics, particularly clear hard plastics (including tinted but still see-through). But it hides in other plastics, too, so look for "BPA-free" on the package. If it is made entirely of wood, it is probably BPA-free even if not so labelled.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride): Straight PVC is a hard, opaque plastic. But plasticizers (see phthalates below) are often added to make it elastic, rubbery, or flexible (like vinyl upholstery, which is PVC plus plasticizers). Hard PVC with no plasticizers is an environmental disaster, with the manufacturing processes endangering the factory workers and polluting the environment with nasty stuff -- but it is probably "safe" after manufacturing. Therefore, we want to avoid hard PVC if possible for environmental reasons, but the fact is that we are willing to give hard PVC to Charlotte if we're sure it does not contain plasticizers (read on).
Phthalates and other plasticizers: These are bad news. Phthalates are the most common plasticizer used to make PVC soft. Look for "phthalate-free" and "PVC-free" on anything with soft plastic parts.
If not labelled otherwise, it is most likely that hard clear plastic contains BPA, hard opaque plastic is PVC, and soft/flexible/elastic plastic is PVC with phthalates. That pretty much eliminates 90% of
the toys on the market. The good news is that in the past few years a whole bunch of new toy companies have sprouted up which are dedicated to making healthy toys without any of that stuff. (I will add the ones I've found so far to the left.) And as I said, we'll give her hard PVC toys, too, and while we'll shed a ear for the environment, it probably won't hurt her directly.
One way to avoid all of the above is to go with non-plastic toys. But wooden toys should be checked to see what claims are made about the paints and sealers used. "Non-toxic" means simply that it doesn't contain lead or other heavy metals, but that doesn't mean it doesn't contain things that aren't also a bit unhealthy. Look for "water-based" or "natural" paints and sealers.
The other thing to look out for in wooden toys in particular is that somebody somewhere in the manufacturing chain may actually have used a paint they weren't supposed to (e.g., containing lead), and just lied about it. This is where the "Made in China" problem comes in. Unless it is a trustworthy brand with a focus on making healthy toys (i.e., *NOT* any of the large manufacturers with household names like Fisher-Price, but rather a low-volume boutique-y brand), I think it is best to avoid made in China, particularly in painted wooden toys. This isn't because we have anything against China, but it's the law of the jungle over there with respect to manufacturing practices, and neither our government nor their government is doing any oversight, so it's up to the brands to supervise their manufacturers, and consumers to supervise the brands.
Oddly enough, I am much more willing to buy plastic/silicone toys that are made in China than to buy wooden toys from China, so long as they are from a good brand which prominently advertises "BPA-free,
PVC-free, phthalate-free".
Cloth/stuffed toys are another option. Alas, there are problems here, too. Some fabric dyes are toxic, and if it's made in China, you can't trust that they didn't use toxic dyes. The best bet with fabric is to
either buy only reputable (boutique-y) brands or look for "certified organic" or "Oeko-Tex" on the label (many European brands are Oeko-Tex certified these days, which is great).
If in doubt, ask us. Just tell us the manufacturer and I'll look into it. Sorry to be a pain about it! We really would rather not have to worry about this stuff, and we particularly hate asking other people to worry about it.
-Randy
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Translation quality
Amazon is obviously a great place to find any books. More importantly, I've discovered that Amazon customer reviews of children's books in Spanish offer helpful comments about the quality of the translation. For example, I learned that "Green Eggs and Ham" had a really great translation, so I got it. It's not quite as great as the original, but the translation does manage to convey the spirit and keep most of the rhymes, which is quite a challenge! Sam I Am is Juan Ramon, as in "No me gustan los huevos verdes con jamon. No me gustan nada, Juan Ramon!"
About this blog
This blog is as much for our own use as for anyone else. Our purpose is simply to log what we learn about toy safety and to keep track of web links re: same, and this seemed like a good format in which to do it. We're also always on the lookout for bilingual resources, so we'll track those as well. Thus the links (to the left) will probably be updated more often than the posts, but we will occasionally post. We plan to share it with folks who ask about buying things for our sweet girl, so if you're reading this, thanks so much for caring about Charlotte, and we hope the info here is helpful!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)