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Greenpeace: “Ban Phthalates in Sex Toys”
On Friday, Greenpeace called for banning phthalates in sex toys in the European Union. Phthalates are plastic softeners that are used in alot of things that we use every day - shower curtains, water bottles, etc. However, we don’t put our shower curtains inside of us where our tissue is much more absorbant. Toys with phthalates often have a plastic-y smell and can degrade over time. Greenpeace’s request is interesting because there isn’t alot of information out there about the effects of phthalates in sex toys. Here at Babeland, we always recommend using a condom on any toy with phthalates (that’s any jelly rubber toy and some others) just to be on the safe side.
What’s especially interesting about this is that the European Union has banned phthalates in baby and dog toys for years. This shows us just how much we keep our sex lives hidden that dogs were protected sooner than adult humans. Another frustrating aspect of this is that the sex toy industry shows no signs of doing anything and insists that phthalates are not harmful (this sounds eerily like big tobacco to me). In fact, if sex toy makers mark their toys as “novelty” items, they aren’t subjet to regulation thus they can put anything in them that they like.
So why do people buy toys with phthalates? They’re soft and inexpensive and they often come in fun colors like sparkly purple. For some people, that’s all of the things they’re looking for in a toy. I think of toys with phthalates as good starter models. They’re good to use to see what you like before you invest in something that will last a bit longer.
Lastly, I was going to blog about this anyway and then Greenpeace helped me out a bit. Babeland was in a fantastic video about environmentaly friendly toys. If you want to learn about these toys and get a look at our Mercer Street store, check out this great video.
To see some toys with phthalates, check out the Nubby G, the Pleasure Pal and the classic plugs.
To see some toys without phthalates, check out the Blueberry Buzz, the Laya and the Lumina Wand - just to name a few of my favorites.
For more information on toy materials, check out our shopping advice section.
Also check out one of my favorites - Violet Blue’s - post on this and her fantastic blog, Tiny Nibbles.
September 10th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
I have just made my first purchase of toys from another online site, that ships out of California, near where I live. Fortunately they have a generous return policy, for store credit, and refund if items are defective (some of the others I saw are no returns, and I don’t know your policy as I just found this site while doing a Google to find the Greenpeace article again). Then within a day of me receiving and testing my new items, I see the Greenpeace thing on Yahoo. I notice that story didn’t even stay up a day. Leave it to our federal government to protect the children and dogs, and leave the darn stuff in the adult toys! Now I want to return whatever has this material in it, as I’m a very chemically sensitive person, and yes, I didn’t like the chemical smell of some of the items that arrived. Some of them did not have this smell however. I’m planning to contact them tomorrow so I can return anything with phthalates. I was a little worried (and still am) that they won’t be so knowledgable about the products as to know which ones contain it and which ones don’t. The Greenpeace article made it sound like most do. I would like to see a more comprehensive listing of those that are safe in the sense of being phthalate-free. I see that you have listed 3 items above, Blueberry, Laya, and Lumina Wand. Are those the only ones you carry? Is the “chemical smell” a good indicator that the toy DOES contain phthalates. Because they all smelled a bit “plasticy” but some just knocked you over and gave me a headache because of the odor. One of the more expensive things ordered was a Hitachi Magic Wand, with the regular (blue) and the red (jelly) attachments. Is that one safe at least? I am writing this to you as well as them because this is the only online toy shop/site that I have seen so far that has already posted a response to the Greenpeace article, and has a page about the toy materials/content. The others do not. So I figure you know what you are dealing with. Please post a more comprehensive listing for those of us “sensitive persons”, it would be greatly appreciated, as the others are not doing it. You can beat them to the punch, and you would have my future business. Thanks in advance.
September 11th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
[…] The web is just spinning with news about Greenpeace’s request to the European Union to ban phthalates in sex toys. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the words “sex toys” said in so many news sources at once. […]