Green Mothers’ Digest

Well, China has done it again.  It has gone and betrayed consumers worldwide with their practice of subcontracting to companies that have no qualms using inferior products, such as lead-tained paint. 

I looked at Mattel’s product list of toys they are pulling off the shelves (explore the Mattel site, there are more product lists of recalled toys)  and I was saddened that these joyfully innocent and playful toys harbored this harmful substance.  Really, it was the innocence of them that almost brought me to tears.  While I searched my mind if my own children had held any of those little figures in their hands - almost impossible, if not in our house, then at play group or friends’ houses - I was struck how treacherous childhood is, and always was, of course, except these days we are so much more aware…

Besides the emotional, ruffled Mama-Bear protective side of the issue that anyone can relate to, there is also the political side of this matter the outrageousness of which has so far been largely swept under the rug. 

Read this article in Slate and see if it gets your blood boiling like it did mine.  And ask yourself, where are our elected officials when they are not rubbing cops’ ankles in public restrooms or ordering Madame services to get their buttocks slapped at a thousand dollars a pop.

Outrageous!  Another recall of a product manufactured in China, this time a toy which may contain lead: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 1 million of the popular “Thomas & Friends” wooden railway toys made in China are being voluntarily recalled because some may contain lead paint, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Wednesday. read more 

In addition, fake Colgate (yes, there is apparently such a thing as counterfit toothpaste, for heaven’s sake!!) sold in discount stores is also being recalled.  It contains a substance called DEG (diethylene glycol) which is toxic.  read more here

I must pat myself on the back a little bit here.  I tend to shy away from anything made in China, simply because I don’t trust their standards of safety.  It was after all courtesy of China that we all introduced lead into our houses through innocent looking vinyl blinds.  Who would have thought they could contain lead?  I feel consumers are innocent babes when it comes to assessing risks simply because of ignorance.  The average person just doesn’t know enough, if anything, about manufacturing common items and what the substances we fear so much might be used for in those items.  Another example of that is plastic baby bottles.

To get back to the toothpaste - I actually quickly ran and checked my own toothpaste which happens to be Colgate, and happens to come from a discount store.  But, sigh of relief, it says it’s distributed by Palmolive in New York.

My children btw use Toms of Maine, without fluoride, as well as Orajel, also without fluoride.  There is too much controversy for my taste concerning fluoride, so for the time being we try to avoid it.