Rubber Ducky, You're the One - NOT!

As I was researching additional information for my upcoming Detoxify Your Home presentation, I started to run into a lot of articles, blogs and websites dedicated specifically to children’s toys.

What struck me was that one of the most common images for toxic toys was the “rubber” ducky!

Apparently, a lot of “rubber” duckies are made with highly toxic “phthalates” – better known as PVC’s and bisphenol A  – also known as BPA.  The ducky and other toys were found to have high levels of these toxic chemicals. They were also found to include toxic cadmium, lead and mercury.

Just think – this is going into your kids mouths.  And you thought eating dirt in the yard was bad!

So much for the cute and innocent rubber ducky!  Who knew toys could be so dangerous.  Thing is, the dangers from these toys has nothing to do with swallowing hazards but just playing with these toys – handling them, gnawing on them (as babies like to do!) can be extremely toxic!

And it goes much further than the rubber duckies!  Just think about all the plastics that your baby uses from bottles to teething rings to pacifiers – it’s not just the toys you need to worry about.

I found that there are many toxic toy awareness groups out there that are working to make significant changes in the products that go into these toys and baby “essentials”.  Groups like “The Green Schools Initiative” (http://www.greenschools.net) are working to help create a better, greener environment for kids to grow and thrive in.

October 18, 2011 was Children’s Health Advocacy Day in Ann Arbor MI.  At the demonstration they displayed a 25 foot duck to show just how important this issue is.

A few things I learned included the fact that some of these toxins in children’s toys have been linked to breast cancer in later years.  They have also been linked to conditions such as ADD and ADHD.  Maybe this explains why older generations never saw those kinds of problems.  My parents generation didn’t have access to these plastics back then.  Makes one wonder – doesn’t it?

Do you have young children?  If you do, now is the time to look through that toy box and find out just what they are playing with.  Making changes now can help to make a much brighter future!