Reply #8: Try buying toys for a baby that aren't full of garbage!

[AllyCat]

I have been removing the outer wrappers of cheese after purchase, buying fragrance free products, avoiding plastic food wrap, and not eating fish (tilapia and wild-caught pacific salmon are about the only ones not full of mercury) for some time now. But I am horrified at the toys people keep buying for our baby, most made in China, where manufacturers do NOT have to follow our toy safety laws to the letter.

One popular wooden toy company "Melissa and Doug" makes everything in China and according to the lady I spoke with on the phone "doesn't use anything in the paints and varnishes that the US says they can't use". That's just the problem! The US allows products made in China to bypass some US regulations and lead in paint is one of them! And everyone can use phthalates in their plastics. Phthalates are known hormone-disrupters.

The only plastic toys I've found that don't have phthalates are a brand made in Germany (these substances are banned in the EU) that escapes me at the moment.

Same goes for pacifiers, bottles, and bottle nipples. Latex ones contain nitrosamines, a known carcinogen and the silicone ones have phthalates. The clear plastic bottles have phthalates. Companies that are refusing to use phthalates are Medela, Gerber, and Evenflo.

And then yesterday, my neighbor had her lawn sprayed for weeds/pests right next to my baby's open window where he was playing in his crib! And she has more dandelions in her yard than we do in ours and we NEVER spray!