Toxic free toys

This week the US House and Senate passed a bill that bans lead in children's toys. The bill also bans other harmful toxins that are responsible for making plastic products softer and more flexible (think of a rubber duck). The toxins banned, six types of phthalates, are now thought to act as hormones and cause reproductive problems, especially in boys.

With the overwhelming majority supporting the bill in both houses (4 representatives total voted against it), this vote should send a clear message to the chemical industry that enough is enough. It's time to stop forcing the public to prove that a chemical is unsafe and time for industry to prove to the public that it is safe, before it is put on the market and into our products (children's toys or otherwise).

In similar toxic-related news, Rep. Pricey Harrison was successful in getting a study bill passed in the short session of the NC Legislature this year. This study is with the Child Fatality Task Force (sounds like a worthy cause) and would look at a ban on toxic brominated fire retardants. These chemicals, also known as PBDEs, went into wide-spread use in the 1970's and are now found throughout the home; including in your tvs, computer monitors, foam furniture, baby cribs, etc. Once PBDEs get into your body they stay there and accumulate, and are passed from mothers to their children. Studies show that PBDEs disrupt brain development and hormone systems.

Now, isn't it counter-intuitive that individuals and organizations concerned with public health have to fight to ban harmful chemical after harmful chemical? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of corporations and our government to prove that a chemical is safe before it ever reaches consumers?