Toy safety data is a text away
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: Two-thousand seven may have been the year of toxic toys. If you’ve got questions about what your kids are playing with, Rachel Dornhelm reports the answers are just a text message away.
Rachel Dornhelm: You’re at an after-Christmas sale, or just in your living room, and you want to know now: How safe is this toy? Pull out your cell phone and type in HealthyToys . . .
[Sound of text message being sent]
And the name of the thing, say Polly Pocket’s Pet Boutique. Text that all to 41-4-1-1.
[Sound of a text message being received]
You get back a message that tells you:
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner: Polly Pocket’s Pet Boutique was tested and it comes back as a medium level of toxic chemicals detected.
That’s Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of Momsrising.org, which spearheaded the project with the Washington Toxics Coalition and the Ecology Center. The ratings of high, medium and low are the result of testing for toxins like lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic and mercury.
Over 1,200 toys are in the database, which is also online at healthytoys.org for parents who aren’t into texting, or those who want more details about the ratings.
I’m Rachel Dornhelm for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
