Actually, the title of this post is a bald-faced lie. OF COURSE I am going to get my children things for Christmas. I just don’t know what I can get them anymore.

Maybe it’s because I live in a media-sheltered existence, but up until now I really knew very little about the toxicity of stuff we buy.  What I don’t know could still fill volumes, but now I am a little more informed.  I was just listening to a podcast of Fresh Air, featuring author Mark Shapiro who has just published his book Exposed – the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products. I am not surprised to learn (though I’m still upset and alarmed nonetheless) that products made for the USA’s consumption are toxic as heck, but in Europe they actually regulate what stuff can be introduced into their countries; from toys to cosmetics. By contrast, we yokels here in the USA are painting our faces with toxic chemicals, and putting toxic binkies and teethers in the mouths of our babes.

Shapiro explains that the European Union bases regulations on “an accumulation of evidence” that suggests substantial harm, and pulls products on that basis quickly. The USA instead looks for total absolute proof of harm before doing anything to regulate consumer goods. It’s a cost-benefit analysis: The cost to industry is weighed against the benefit to society.  hmmm…. a business might lose some profit, while consumers might lose their lives to cancer, lose their pregnancies to toxic chemicals that compromise fertility, and have babies suffer from birth defects, childhood disease, and more. Gee, that bottom line really needs someone to stand up for it!

What are the toxic chemicals that you should be concerned about? Lead, for example, could well be in your favorite shade of lipstick. Lead poisoning is a serious threat– lead is a dangerous poison if you eat it.  Who thought it should be in lipstick?  The mind boggles. Other heavy metals, too, like mercury could be added here and there and you just wouldn’t know about it.

But the sneaky and scary substance that seems to be all around us, hidden away, is a group of plastic additives known as phthalates. As I understand it, phthalates are added to nearly every piece of soft, molded plastic. The dashboard of your car. Your child’s rubber ducky, or plastic teething ring.   Perhaps it’s in the plastic utensils that you use to stir the soup, or spread the frosting on the cupcakes you made to celebrate your child’s birthday. The usefulness of phthalates is that the additive makes plastic more pliable, and moldable.

What is the harm? Well, if you ask the researchers in the US, it’s not PROVEN. However, in Europe and even recently in California, they are concerned enough to ban products with phthalates because they don’t want to risk an increase in a variety of health issues, including allergies, genital abnormalities, diabetes, cancer,  and reduced fertility in both men and women.

Apparently what happens with products that aren’t considered safe for kids in Europe is that the EU officials will turn away shipments of toxic toys and send them back to China. Then the toys are sent to the US instead. And guess what? They’re such a good price! What a deal! I’m can’t wait to start buying up cheap toys!

The big problem I have is that a little information is a dangerous thing, though probably not as bad as having no information at all. I want to go through my kids stuff and try to figure out what, if anything, is dangerous to them.  I am still in the process of trying to understand in what way phthlates cause harm: is it only if you stick it in your mouth?  I don’t wear makeup – except on halloween, and on a very rare occasion, so I’m not eating lead lipstick, or swallowing phthlates from makeup, and neither are my children.

For that matter, my kids are old enough now that they really don’t put toys in their mouths anymore.  I don’t know yet if there is a danger to just being around phthlates: for example, do they give off gases that are toxic? I’ve read that this toxic substance is one of those odorless, colorless oily things that is mixed into the plastic recipes, giving toys and other things flexibility.  I don’t know if that means that harder plastics are safer?  The more I think about it, the more I feel a fear that we have a toxic things all around us, and I don’t know how it can or will affect me and my family.

Add to the toxicity alarm my own anti-consumerist bent, and my distaste for exploited workers near and far, (and not to mention my own tight-fisted frugal ways) and you can start to see why I have some issues with getting my kids what they want.  And they want it all… they really want their toys from China.  Here’s a sampling of what my kids want for Hanukkah and Christmas (yes, we celebrate both in this household):

Calico Critters Play House
Bright Eyes (a stuffed toy that we saw at the supermarket)
Littlest Pet Shop
A Robotic Life-like Guinea Pig (um, we HAVE REAL guinea pigs, what do we need a robotic one for??)
A little dog that barks (I am NOT getting that. Ugh, barking?? )
Webkinz

I am pretty sure that all of the above are things made in China.  I don’t know under what conditions the toys are made.  I don’t know if they are toxic either in the present or over time as plastic degrades.  All I know is my kids want them.

So, yeah, I wish I was getting nothin’ for Christmas – nothing toxic anyway.   And nothing that came from the hands of child laborers, or other exploited people.  We don’t even have room for the toys we have now! And yet the kids want more!

It’s a real dilemma.  I don’t have any easy answers.  I’ve done a bit of web searching for alternative toys, and sure they are out there. But I have yet to find something that actually substitutes well for the actual things my children want.

How’s your holiday shopping going?

. . . So far, I’ve got nothin’.