It seems that lately you are having a hard time making sure your products are safe — what with the lead paint on Thomas trains and now also lead deep within the bowels of the Sesame Street and Dora product lines. And I hear that there is going to be another massive recall today. Never mind the bisphenol A in our baby bottles. And the phthalates in teethers and toys (and here). Overview here. And don’t forget the antibiotics and hormones lingering in our children’s yogurt and ice cream (here and here and here).
Basically, it is starting to seem like maybe you don’t care about our kids?
But you see, we do.
I guess that whole birthing process makes us want to keep them safe. And I sort of assumed someone was looking out for us. My bad.
And I am not planning on choosing between leaded vs. unleaded toys this Christmas. As a matter of fact, I am pretty much getting rid of the cheap/plastic bottles, cups, toys, and teethers in our house. I am buying almost exclusively organic food. I am going to spend a little extra money (that’s good, right?) on stainless steel, glass, or safe plastic cups, silverware, and dishes (here and here and here). I am going to buy less crap this Christmas in favor of a few quality toys that are mostly wooden and mostly made in places other than China. Like these. And I am replacing our health and beauty products with things like these and these. And I’ve replaced our diapers with these. And our sunscreen with this.
You see? I like to shop. And I like cute things. But I read the ingredients and I consider the packaging. And I am starting to put your products back on the shelf. Gone are the days of the Pampers smell in our house. (You see it’s not what babies really smell like — trust me — it’s there for the marketing). Bye bye to the Avent bottles and sippy cups. See you later to Neutrogena Sunscreen. Au revoir to almost anything Fisher Price or Mattel. (And I look forward to a Christmas without your insane unpackaging requirements that require power tools, broken finger nails, wires, tabs, and sharp plastic cuts). You see? Now I buy gDiapers and BornFree and Badger and Lush and California Baby and Sigg.
I am a marketing case study. Just check me out (or ask my husband). Because if you do and reconsider some of your ingredients and packaging, it may even appear that you care about my kids too. Even if you only really care about the bottom line. It’s OK. I won’t tell anybody.
Sincerely,
The Imperfect Mommy
(On update: Here’s the latest recall. Only 9 million toys. Not that big of a deal.)
5 Comments so far
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Hear, hear!!! I just wish they’d listen to the consumer for once. Do they seriously let their children play with the toys they sell? I can’t imagine what company, especially one that sells toys, doesn’t have a quality control department. My gosh, the toys are made thousands of miles away and they are not checking them before putting them on the shelves! I’d think it was standard, but apparently it’s standard to trust China’s “stringent” manufacturing codes. I just wish they were out here in the Blogosphere, reading what their consumers really think. I could go on and on! But hey, thanks for the wooden toy links! I’ll be checking those. P.S. I smell toys before I buy them. I look like a freak, but if it stinks, it’s probably chemical laden!
By Diane on 08.14.07 12:16 pm | Permalink
Tell me about it, IM! Isn’t this just craziness?
On a somewhat similar note, I just purchased “Repel Lemon Eucalyptus” insect repellent for myself since I have been in the woods a lot lately (and I don’t really feel like chancing Lyme disease, you know?). Here I am thinking it’s a sort of more natural repellent for me to use…the first all natural product that I have seen that says it protects against ticks. So, I bought it…and couldn’t find any ingredients on the bottle. So, long story short, I emailed the company for a list of ingredients. This is what I got back…
“Thank you for contacting United Industries Corporation in regards to your Repel Lemon Eucalyptus. The unlisted ingredients are generally recognized as safe by the United States EPA. Additionally, this product is all-natural and does not contain any synthetic chemicals. However, we are not required to disclose the other ingredients and consider the product formulation proprietary information. If you have medical allergies, I can tell you if a specific ingredient is or is not in this product. Otherwise, we do not disclose the other ingredients in this product.”
Can you believe that answer? In light of your post, IM, how can I believe that it is all natural when they can’t give me the ingredients? They did mention in a second email that DEET is not an ingredient. But I can’t help wonder what else is in it.
So, here is a somewhat “natural” product for me to use…yet the company isn’t releasing its full list of ingredients! What are they afraid of? Unfortunately, I feel as if I need to use the product because it’s the only deet-free tick repellent that I can find. I just hope it really is “all natural” as they state.
By lizard mama on 08.14.07 2:04 pm | Permalink
I wholeheartedly concur with all of the above. Just in case you haven’t seen one yet, I recently invested in a stainless steel water bottle and am loving it. There are a lot of options but basically they all seem to be the same as this:
http://www.isabellacatalog.com/prod.cfm/pgc/21300/sbc/21306/inv/10329/tid/705111003
Happy drinking!
By Samilja on 08.14.07 10:46 pm | Permalink
well done!
I could not agree more. we transitioned to non-plastic containers a few years ago. it is amazing how much plastic one can accumulate. for water bottles we all have two sigg bottles -well worht it to pay a bit upfront and have containers that you can feel good about that last forever. plus the cute prints are easy on the eye.
in terms of mosquito and tick repellent - Kiss My Face makes a great one called “Swyflotter”. i have been using it for a number of years for myself and the kiddos and it is excellent. i had a few years of heavy duty fieldwork in the the woods and was constantly molested by mosquitoes. this worked as well for me as deet. they also have a great spary on sunscreen. some shopes sell it but you can also order it online from their shop
By carrieschwarz on 08.16.07 11:00 am | Permalink
I was soo chocked with all the information about leaded toys that I made a Blog http://www.unlededtoys.blogspot.com, I remembered that when I was a little boy I used to play with lead soldiers toys and also I used to make them, thak Good that I am able to write you and look that I am a normal average person for my age(I am 55 years old), please help my grandchildren from all the new poisons that are comming every day.
Best regards,
Hernan
By Unleaded Toys on 10.16.07 8:58 am | Permalink
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