Ever since Little Girlie was a tiny baby she just loved other little tiny babies. Real or in the dolly form. Now that Little Girlie is seven, she has acquired quite a collection!
Yesterday I read about a website that is independently testing toys for lead, PVC, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. Yummy!
http://www.healthytoys.org/ already has a database of toys that they have tested for safety and is accepting votes for which toys should be tested next. The toys that they have recognized as having high levels of unhealthy substances have not been recalled for the most part. Scary stuff.
For the most part, I have steered away from plastic toys, toys with batteries and character toys. Because of that, we are lucky to have avoided the mass toy recalls. On the Healthy Toys website I found two of Girlie's baby dolls with "medium" levels of PVC. Not so lucky.
Now my head is spinning. Of course I set out to do more research...The European Union banned PVC in toys way back in 1999. The US has made no such move. PVC is made of phthalates and chlorine. Almost all Americans have detectable levels of PVC in our bodies. Some of the chemicals in phthaletes have endocrine-disrupting properties. Would this explain the fact that almost all of my friends and myself have thyroid disorders? Could our baby dolls be to blame?
As for researching exactly what toys are made from, best of luck. Why is this information so hidden? I wonder if the toy companies even know.
Yesterday I read about a website that is independently testing toys for lead, PVC, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. Yummy!
http://www.healthytoys.org/ already has a database of toys that they have tested for safety and is accepting votes for which toys should be tested next. The toys that they have recognized as having high levels of unhealthy substances have not been recalled for the most part. Scary stuff.
For the most part, I have steered away from plastic toys, toys with batteries and character toys. Because of that, we are lucky to have avoided the mass toy recalls. On the Healthy Toys website I found two of Girlie's baby dolls with "medium" levels of PVC. Not so lucky.
Now my head is spinning. Of course I set out to do more research...The European Union banned PVC in toys way back in 1999. The US has made no such move. PVC is made of phthalates and chlorine. Almost all Americans have detectable levels of PVC in our bodies. Some of the chemicals in phthaletes have endocrine-disrupting properties. Would this explain the fact that almost all of my friends and myself have thyroid disorders? Could our baby dolls be to blame?
As for researching exactly what toys are made from, best of luck. Why is this information so hidden? I wonder if the toy companies even know.
So what do I do? Do I pack-up all of the dollys, including the Cabbage Patch and American Girl, and toss them? Do I bribe my daughter with an expensive organic cotton doll? Do I let her keep the dolls since she isn't licking them? Should I let her keep a special few?
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