Since my last post about green toys getting bad ratings on
HealthyToys.org, the project of The Ecology Center, a Michigan
based nonprofit, I've been in a funk. It's not enough for
me - as a journalist or as a mom -- to just report that organic
toys are possibly as unsafe as their conventional counterparts,
then wish you (and me) happy holidays and move on. I'm not ok
shopping as if playing Russian roulette - Oh I think my kid will
like this, hopefully it's in the 70 percent of the toys from
such and such company that tested low hazard. No thanks. And I
don't like the idea of leaving readers in a similar gray
zone.
Warning: this is going to be a long post. Bear with me, the topic
is both too confusing and too important not to explore at length.
And I don't feel I've cracked it yet.
So I started calling the heads of the "green" toy
companies I have purchased items from and talking to them. I've
also interviewed many of my organic/green leaning friends and
colleagues who are parents about their take on the situation. I
spoke with Dr. Philip Landrigan, M.D, Chairman of Mount Sinai's
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and their Children's Environmental Health Center.
Based on these conversations, I wrote a piece on the topic for New
York Magazine, where I'm the kids editor. Sadly what was
printed was short due to space constraints.
The question I'm trying to find an answer to doesn't fit
tidily into a short article: other than manufacturing slips, to
what do organic toys owe their HealthyToys.org besmirching? From my
interviews, I have come up with three main reasons (in no order):
they're made of PVC plastic, current regulations aren't as
strict as HealthyToys (and others) thinks they should be, and the
screening methods they used.
1. PLASTIC: If you're selling a "green" toy that
contains PVC (aka vinyl) HealthyToys gives it an automatic medium
hazard rating, as vinyl often contains hormone disrupters. But
current toy regulations allow PVC (though there are new rules on
what chemicals are allowed to be used to make PVC flexible, most
dolls currently on shelves don't yet conform to these). This is
bad news if you have a kid who loves their rubber ducky or their
baby doll. Yes, there are dolls made out of wool, cotton, and other
natural fabrics, but the true plastic versions are often what kids
(and parents) like. Manufacturers tend to say it's impossible
to make a non PVC plastic doll. Which is why when a brand, say
Corolle, gains a reputation in eco circles for making a
phthalate-free PVC plastic doll, parents concerned about
environmental health flock to it. HealthyToys gives Corolle, which
is owned by Mattel but operates independently, medium hazard
ratings for all dolls because they're PVC. By several accounts,
they test their dolls thoroughly and often for non-allowed
substances, and HealthyToys didn't find levels of these. And if
you email Corolle through their website to ask a question (say,
about why the things smell so strongly of vanilla and what chemical
that scent is, exactly), Beau James, Managing Director for Corolle
North America, will call you back and speak to you at length. Even
if you're not a reporter. It's kind of like being able to
speak to an actual farmer at a farmers market about what they spray
and why vs. going blindly into a supermarket. Even if there are
legal reasons James returns emails via phone calls (as he told me),
these nuances make an green-leaning holiday shopper feel better
about buying a phthalate-free PVC doll for their kid. PVC is, of
course, still an environmental issue (its manufacture and disposal
are so un-eco and detrimental that environmentalists refer to it as
"poison plastic.") And sometimes it - even the phthalate
free kind - can contain other questionable chemicals (read this
interview with Mike Schade from the Center for Health, Environment
and Justice at SafBaby.com.
But I digress.
2. and 3. I gather from my conversations that current regulations
require the surface of a toy to be safer than what's contained
within, based on the concept that the innards are supposedly
inaccessible to children. But HealthyToys tests with an XRF gun,
which screens the entire toy, not just the surface, so their
results sometimes include findings from inaccessible areas. These
guns are also used by companies like Melissa & Doug to scan
many items. If something comes up questionable, then they do much
more extensive and expensive testing at a lab, the results of which
are more accurate than XRF screening. There's no debating the
merits or legitimacy of XRF. "It's a well established
technology. The machine has a very sensitive measuring device. It
measures beneath the surface, not just the surface," says Mt.
Sinai's Dr. Landrigan. He finds fault with the notion of
accessibility. "That's an argument that the lead industry
has used for many years. Kids are clever and persistent. Stuff
buried one minute is exposed the next. You can't have lead in
proximity to kids." Overall, manufacturers largely considered
to be "nontoxic" do appear to be more stringent -
especially when it comes to testing -- than conventional ones, but
it's the rare breed that goes purer than legally required.
"Everything of ours is just as good as it always has
been," says Doug Bernstein, dad of six, and co-owner of
Melissa & Doug. By all accounts he lab tests much more than
average, and even, as I noted in my last post, provided HealthyToys
with copies of his results. HealthyToys hasn't (so far) gone
back to posting their original XRF figures for the Melissa &
Doug items in question, and it bears mentioning that neither
Melissa & Doug, nor any of the "green" brands that
tested poorly on HealthyToys, has ever had a Consumer Product
Safety Commission lead recall.
Since writing about HealthyToys here and for New York, I've
been contacted by products liability attorneys (!), manufacturers
of safe green toys who want good press,
manufacturers of green toys who want better press than I've
given them, the non profit NSF International about their toy safety
program, and countless confused parents. I even heard from GoodGuide, "a start-up with a social
mission," about their list of safe toys that combines social
and environmental ratings with HealthyToys' health data.
It's available for mobile phones for on the go shoppers. None
of these emails answered my next important question: Where to go
from here?
Based on the interviews I've been doing, I'm not unhappy
that I tossed a few toys - including a harmonica -- that XRF
screened for chemicals I'd rather not have my daughter around,
even if they were maybe buried deep within the items. I took Dr.
Landrigan's words to heart - what's the point of letting my
kid put something like that, even if it's
"inaccessible," in her mouth?
Does this mean I'm taking away her prized (Corolle!) baby doll
that I held off buying for a few years (until she was done chewing
on toys), researched ad nauseum, and even bought in Europe because
E.U. standards are (currently) stricter than U.S.? Nope. I always
say over and over again that my green parenting approach is about
minimizing exposure to questionable chemicals where possible, where
it makes sense. And to follow the precautionary principle. We're so minimized that
I'm not concerned about her doll. But we'll absolutely
continue our less is more approach to toys. Who needs all of this
stuff anyway?
That said, we're not Grinches. Far from it. So we'll shop
carefully like many of you this season. Apparently it's a good
time to have an innate understanding of manufacturing. Jesse
Johnson, co-founder of the green furniture company Q Collection, knows exactly what he'd like
to avoid, and also understands that nothing - even organic -- is
100 percent. "We like to have peace of mind knowing the things
our son is surrounding himself with and putting in his mouth are
made of materials known to be nontoxic." Johnson sees the
HealthyToy results as a "double edged sword," but remains
confident that brands he owns like Melissa & Doug and Haba are
- comparatively speaking -- doing their work. He's right, and
HealthyToys agrees. "There are no guarantees but there are
some brands that perform better," says the Ecology
Center's Jeff Gearhart. "In some ways that's the best
we can do. You still have to use some other criteria -- avoid PVC,
plastic, and children's jewelry."
One wonderful thing that came out of HealthyToys.org's new
results - agree with them or disagree with them - is dialogue. So,
lets keep talking about safe toys and talking about safe toys until
we have solid regulations in place for safe toys, including
regulations for the interiors/cores of said toys, aka sub-strates,
and not just the surfaces. And lets push for one go-to symbol to
help consumers shop fearlessly and confidently, based on new,
strict regulations and testing, like the trustworthy USDA Organic
stamp. The Toy Industry Association is working on a certification
program, but I don't know enough about it yet to comment.
Everyone should to join this conversation. Are you a manufacturer
who feels maligned, who worries the general public doesn't
understand the difference between XRF screening and Consumer
Product Safety Commission approved lab testing, who feels everyone
- including toy store owners - has no idea what the about to go
into effect 2009 toy regulations are or what they mean? Air your
opinions here, in comments. Hide behind a screenname if need be so
your legal department won't get on you for being too honest,
but lets talk about what's going on. It's a confusing
arena, and all of us need a little guidance. I certainly plan to
write more about the new regulations as they happen. I'm
already hearing that the very small/local toy companies I've
always suggested parents buy from are now saying they'll be put
out of business by new testing requirements. How awful. Are you a
mom and pop company about to be shut down? Post your story! Did I
get something wrong, or forget to point out a crucial issue? Let me
know.
Lets keep this dialogue going and we'll get somewhere. The
pressure is on, we're all in this together, and it looks like
we're only headed in one (purer) direction.
posted by Alexandra
Related links from the Daily Green:
Everything You Wanted to Know About Organic Wine
How to Pay $1 A Gallon for Gas (Or Less)
Take the Quiz: How Green Do You Want to Be?
Go Green Today: 10 Easy Eco-Tips
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