Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that is. Check it out. Her very own blog post on keeping our kids safe from toxic toys.
Let’s help her out, by adding our names to the Moms Rising petition to tell Congress “We demand safe, lead-free toys for children. Congress must strengthen the agencies responsible for protecting kids from toxic products and remove the bureaucrats who are standing in the way.” I just did. If you’re a U.S. resident, maybe you’d like to sign it too. Moms standing together for the kids.
I like the sound of that.
P.S. Know who else I like? Lynn of Organic Mania. She had an awesome post last month about Cheap Plastic Toys — a major concern in terms of safety AND environmental concerns. Cool.
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Very, very cool. I’ll link this up at Moms Speak Up!
Julie
Using My Words
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Hey WhyMommy, thanks for the nice words about my post. And it tickled me to be lumped in the same post with Speaker Pelosi and Moms Rising! Wow – it’s true what they say…anything can happen on the Internet!
Great links, great ideas. If only it weren’t necessary-you’d think it would be obvious that toys should be safe.
Please forgive my ignorance in these matters, but can’t wooden toys also be painted with lead paint? What makes them safer de facto?
Also, Susan, can you help me with the whole “WhyMommy” button thing? I’m new to the blogging thing.
Thanks,
CE
Can we get the word “lead” out of this?
We need SAFE toys. Period. Free from lead. Free from date-rape drug toxins. Free of parts that shatter into tiny pieces if, shock, the toy is dropped on the floor. Free of magnets that can fall out.
And my knee jerk reaction to CE’s question. Of course wooden toys could be painted with lead paint. And if you have some wooden toys from when you were a kid, they might not be the best to pass on. But plastic is more suspect, because plastic is cheap and easy to make and tends to be imported from countries where laws are not as strict and quality control not as rigorous.
That said, I saw a statistic recently that with all the recent recalls, “Made in China” was NOT proportionately over-represented. So those are not the only unsafe toys and boycotting toys made there won’t necessarily mean you are safe.
What Susan K said. She are smart.
Lead is a popular target. But yes, toys coated in a substance that turns to GHB are also very awful (if a newer threat). And shattering and little pieces are perennial threats to little ones.
I like wood toys as a generally safer alternative because I have trusted sources — Melissa and Doug, local crafters who coat in safe oils, and, of course, Grampa. He’s not using lead paint!
I’m glad that this issue is getting national attention again. And thrilled that Nancy Pelosi is on board. I hope the rest of Congress gets the message — that’s the point of the Moms Rising petition that I linked above.
Thank you Susans for explaining a bit more. I feel the need to clarify – I am not anti-safety, in fact, around my parts, I am known as “neurotic safety mom” since I am the only one anybody knows whose 2.5 year old still rides rear-facing and who isn’t allowed to eat peanut butter or lollipops 🙂 This whole toy thing scares me because I thought I was up on all the neurotic-mom areas of expertise, only to find out I know nothing about this. We don’t keep small toys at all because of the baby, but I don’t know how to inform myself properly about different chemicals, compounds, recalls., etc Is there an online primer or resource you would recommend? It’s funny talking about the wooden toys, because awhile back, I had made a choice to buy plastic over wood because my daughter sucked the paint off of a wooden train at someone’s house and I was kind of freaked out about her ingesting paint.
Thanks for your ideas (in advance),
CE