Now that it's December, I feel safe discussing gifts. Just because my neighbors turn on their life-size candy canes before Thanksgiving doesn't mean I have to think about holiday gifts before the leftovers are gone. But now it is December, and Healthy Toys.org's 2008 Consumer Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys is officially out - and tricked out with handy tools like personalized wish lists to email family and friends (making it easier to tell grandma to go easy on the PVC this year).
So the time has come in this house to make some key gift decisions. Good thing the blogosphere - where I spend a good many of my waking hours - is chock full of guidance, tips, tools and tricks. Of course, if our laws were stronger (yep, TSCA again), we wouldn't need all the guidance, tips, tools, and tricks, but we're working on that.
In the meantime, it's good to see that Santa has been busy greening his workshop so my kids can have fun tree-side without me having to worry about their reproductive futures. Here are some of the resources that helped me find safer products with minimal hassle:
For starters, Safe Mama has some excellent guidance on how to select lead-free toys. While there were fewer recalls this year and progress with the more stringent control over lead in children's products effective in February, 2009 (yes, just after the holiday shopping season), we're still left to shop our way out of this one. The HealthyToys.org folks also have a great tool where you can check specific toys for their lead levels - and post it on your blog, no less.