Plastic and China

Even before the recent toy recalls by Mattel, I wasn't crazy about giving Aaron a lot of plastic toys. Not only is plastic derived from petroleum, but much of it is made with chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA), which can leach from the plastic when it is used for food and drink purposes, so I imagine it can leach from the plastic toys when Aaron puts them in his mouth. BPA has been linked to prostate cancer in rats. How it and other chemicals used in plastic affect our health is still being studied. And chances are good that you've got dozens of industrial chemicals in your body that weren't around 100 years ago, with unknown consequences.

For years I've been reading food labels to limit my intake of artificial ingredients such as colorings and artificial sweeteners. But recently, I've become more concerned about not only what I'm eating and drinking, but what I'm storing my food and drinks in. When I heard that you shouldn't refill plastic water bottles because they start to break down over time and leach chemicals into your water, I stopped reusing my bottles. I have also replaced my Rubbermaid storage containers with glass containers for fear of what might be leaching out of the plastics in the microwave.

But it's more than a personal health issue, it's becoming a serious environmental issue as well. When I heard that San Francisco was planning to ban plastic water bottles because so many of them are not recycled and are ending up in landfills, I decided to find a glass bottle I could reuse for taking water with me when I am out of the house. Plastic does not biodegrade. It breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, but never goes away. That means all plastic that has ever been made, except what has been incinerated, is still on the planet today. In our landfills, in our oceans, in our bodies.

What about recycling? Recycling of plastic is misleading. Even those plastic bottles you recycle, the ones with the 1's and 2's that you can put out at the curb, they don't get recycled into new plastic bottles. They might get recycled into carpet or other derivative products that will also never degrade (or be recycled), so it doesn't really reduce the amount of virgin plastic being made for more plastic water bottles.

There is so much plastic in our environment, the ocean is filling up with it. There are large floating islands of our plastic waste. Not only stuff that was thrown out and ends up in the ocean, but brand new plastic toys and products from shipping containers that have washed overboard during the long trek from overseas manufacturers. Please read the article in the link above if you want to know more about how this affects the environment and our health.

So the more I think about it, the more I want to reduce my plastic consumption. Not only to keep industrial chemicals from getting into my food or Aaron's mouth, but to cut down on non-biodegradable waste. And the recent recalls by Mattel of millions of plastic toys makes toys my next target. (Granted, those recalls were for problems due to lead in the paint and magnets that could detach and be swallowed.)

Before we had plastic, kids had wooden and cloth toys. Believe it or not, there are many great non-plastic toys, painted with non-toxic paints and made with all natural fibers (i.e. 100% cotton versus synthetic materials). Even noisy ones! (Just not battery-powered noise). One of my favorite toy companies I found recently is Haba. Their toys are available online, through Amazon.com, even, but I found they are also available at a local children's shop where I purchased several wooden toys for Aaron.

Haba, along with several other children's toy companies that make classic wooden toys, is a German company. Most, but not all, of their products are actually manufactured in Germany. One thing I like about the online retailer Moolka is that for most of their products, they tell you where they are manufactured. Although all toys sold in stores have this information on the packaging, not all online retailers make this information available.

Am I going to stop using all plastic? No. That's unreasonable. Plastic has its uses and for some things there are no substitutes. Plastic garbage bags, some medical equipment, computers and other electronics, packaging to keep foods fresh in the store, and many, many more. But when there is a reasonable alternative (wooden and cloth toys, glass bottles, etc) I want to go with the non-plastic option. And hopefully, science will find new environmentally-friendly materials for some of those products for which there currently aren't good alternatives.

I do have to admit that we just bought a Fisher-Price Jumperoo that is not only plastic, but was probably made in China. Jumpers and Exersaucers are products that do not have environmentally friendly alternatives. Could Aaron have survived without a Jumperoo? I'm sure. But it is more for us than for him. Until Aaron can sit up and play with toys on the floor, the Jumperoo is a place we can set Aaron to play. It has numerous toys attached that won't fall to the floor from his clumsy grasp. It entertains him and gives us a chance to finish lunch.

But this is more of a container for the boy than a toy and is one of our exceptions. In general, we don't plan to buy Aaron plastic toys or take them as hand-me-downs. We want to limit his exposure to plastics while he is young, and especially while he is exploring everything by putting it in his mouth.

So if you want to buy Aaron a gift, please stick with wood and cloth toys or books and clothes. And preferably ones not made in China. I'm sure not all toys and children's books made in China are toxic, but I am very concerned about their lack of regulations and oversight. I could write an equally long tirade on the outsourcing of manufacturing to China and the failure of American toy companies to take responsibility for the safety of their products.