My daughter puts her toy food in her mouth all of the time while playing pretend kitchen...... read this from HealthyToys.org to protect your children, and let's take action together!
I am the mother of two wonderful girls, a 2 year-old and a 3 1/2 year-old. The girls love playing in the play kitchen and preparing recipes for me. One dish that has been served many times is corn on the cob. I would order a corn on the cob and the girls would get it for me. They would of course try some themselves first. Being young children their mouths were always on the play corn even though I urged them to "just pretend."
Imagine my absolute horror when after taking the corn along with some of their other toys to a toy testing done by the Ecology Center, the play corn tested many times the legal limit of lead. It also had significant levels of barium, chromium,arsenic, and mercury! It was such a bizarre reading that the testers retested it twice to make sure the machine was calibrated correctly. As a mother I am frightened to know that there are so many hazards to my children's health and outraged that many of them are products like toys that are marketed directly for children.
As a citizen and a parent, I am motivated to get the word out and raise the consciousness of our community. We need to help all of our children grow up in a safe and healthy environment. In the next few weeks, our state legislators will have the chance to vote on a bill that would protect children from the threat of toxic toys by giving parents the information we need to make responsible choices as to which toys are safe for their children.
As parents, we have a responsibility to speak out regarding threats to the health of our children. Please join me in taking two simple actions to help protect children from toxic toys.
Sincerely,
Sarah Barba
Harper Woods, MI
Here are two simple things you can do to help.
1) Ask your state representatives and state senators to support the Safe Children's Products Act. Click here to take action
2) Share your personal stories and photos: An image is worth a thousand words.
The Michigan Network for Children's Environmental Health (MNCEH) is creating a photo collage of photos of parents, children and their toys asking the important question "Is this toy toxic?" and demanding a "right to know." We will use these photos in a colage at public events in support of this bill and in electronic comunications. Only with your help, can we make sure parents have a right to know what dangers lurk in their child's toys!
Here's how:
1. Compose an email to rob@ecocenter.org with the subject line: "Am I Toxic?"
2. In the body of the email, please include the following: First name, Last name, and Zip code. Also, please add a personalized comment/caption for the photo expressing why this issue is of concern for you and your family.
3. Attach the image of your children, yourself, your family, or your friends with toys, "Are these toys toxic?" signs, etc. -- and send!
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