December 12, 2025 • 65 mins
Toxins are turning up in everyday household products including those made for children. As parents shop for the perfect Christmas gift, many may unknowingly be exposing their kids to serious health risks. Jeremy welcomes David Steinman to discuss how some manufacturers continue to use harmful materials in their products and what parents can do to protect their little ones from these hidden dangers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Five four three two one.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Are you interrupt our programs or bring you this important message?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
A confirmed attack is taking place against the United States.
Aliens from an unknown location have been reported in multiple states.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
We are controlling transmission. There is another rural that awaits
far beyond.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Five four pray two one.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Are you interrupt our programs or bring you this important message?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A confirmed attack is taking place against the United States.
Aliens from an unknown location have been reported in multiple states.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
We are controlling transmission. There is another rural that awaits
far beyond what we can see and feel, a place
that's anything but.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
What you believe might not be.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Step into the song of the best I know expancies
and cover to the pair rev Not a week Ago
with je Scott.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
We are in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.
I love this time of year.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Friends.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
There's perspective because you have to think about how fortunate
you are to even be able to provide for others
what you can. I don't know about you, but I
get that really good feeling when I'm able to do
something nice for others. That is magnified, of course, around
this time of year. Those who don't have a fan,
(02:01):
it can be a very very difficult time for them.
So if you would take any sort of comfort in
listening to the program, so we hope you take a
little bit of comfort at least in the program, especially
as you listen around the holidays, knowing that.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
You're not alone.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
We're here and you and I share a similar interest
in this kind of stuff. I mean, that's why you
come and listen to the program on a regular basis.
I hope you listen on a regular basis. I mean,
we've made it very easy for you to listen free.
You don't need a membership or a subscription. Now we
do offer that for those who want to listen to
(02:39):
the program commercial free, but by all means, the show
is free and accessible anytime on any of the podcast apps.
You just have to search for into the pair Abnormal
and to give us a follow, and then those episodes
will download and be available to you to listen anytime
on your schedule. Because we are also busy this season,
(03:01):
this time of the year, during the Christmas season. And
I'm gonna say Christmas because I celebrate Christmas. I don't
celebrate other holidays, So I just say what I celebrate,
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, you don't have to
tell me Merry Christmas back, but if you wish me
one of your holidays, I will try to wish you
(03:22):
that holiday in return, because that's what you're celebrating. I'm
wishing you goodwill, goodwill toward men, right, So what the
season is all about? It's not about arguing over whether
or not it's Christmas or Hanukkah or any of the
other celebrations that take place kwansa of course.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
But that tis the season. I mean.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Perhaps you are, as they say, rushing home with your treasures.
Can you name that tune? As the shoppers rush home
with their treasures? I love that Christmas. I love Christmas music,
good Christmas music, that is. And we've been fortunate to
(04:10):
be able to provide a good Christmas this year. It
hasn't always been that way. But it's not always about
the gifts. Of course, as I mentioned, it makes you
feel good inside when you find the perfect gift for
somebody on your list. Tonight's program, those should make you
(04:30):
check that list twice before you check out. And whether
that's at the actual register, which I feel is a
dying breed. Maybe I'm speaking for myself. It's so much
easier to swipe left and swipe right. Wait, that's a
different app, but it's so much easier to just hit
(04:51):
add to Karte check out, especially when you're getting that
free shipping and it may arrive overnight.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
I know that was the case.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Actually, I'm looking at a package right now that as
soon as I get done with, I'm going to wrap
up before the missus finds it. But before you hit
that checkout button, you might want to consider what we're
going to tell you tonight on the program, because knowing
really is half the battle. Particularly parents and grandparents, this
(05:23):
information would be vital for but really, anyone buying a
toy for children this year. Many donate to toy drives,
maybe the Black the White Elephant gift, the Game of Christmas,
whatever you call it. Or you buy a gift for
(05:46):
somebody that you don't know, or maybe you don't know
them that well. So if you're buying a toy for
a child this year, you should probably know that not
all of them are safe. I mean, it seems like
an no brainer that we need to raise our kids
to be healthy so we can give them the best
chance of success in life. I think every parent would
(06:08):
want that, and it's not necessarily an issue of parents
saying I'm knowingly going to give my son or my
daughter something that could harm them or kill them. But again,
as I said, knowing is half the battle, and many
do not know that. Many of these toys are not
(06:31):
safe for kids. Some of these children's products contain toxic
caustic hazard is, however you want to refer to them, chemicals,
materials capable of harming a child's health. These dangers aren't
always obvious either. Many cases, the products are legal, but
(06:57):
often poorly regulated or with cheaper, unsafe components. There's a
several problems with how this is regulated or not regulated.
The regulations really are weak, they're inconsistent, safety standards vary
by country. Imported toys aren't always tested thoroughly. There's cheap
(07:23):
manufacturing materials. Of course, that's use. Everybody's got to try
to sell things for the most profits. So if you're
spending the least on materials, you have a chance of
making more of a profit. So we're talking about low
cost plastics and paints and metals, which yeah, they cost less,
(07:45):
but they contain harmful additives. And then we've got counterfeit products,
unlabeled products, knockoff toys, some of them sold online or
in discount shops which completely skip safety compliance entirely. Common
(08:07):
toxins include heavy metals like lead, which is found in
paint coatings, are plastics, Calca cadmium, which is used in
batteries and pigments. Mercury still being found in some metallic
components and counterfeit toys. Thalites used to as softened plastics,
(08:35):
still found in some dolls, inflatables and rubbery toys, BPA,
which is common in hard plastics. We've talked about the
forever chemicals PFASs pfas, which can appear in water resistant
materials and coatings. Flame retardants found in foam toys, stuffed animals,
(08:58):
and sleep related eyes items, VOCs, volatile organic compounds. That's
what gives it the new toy smell. When you bring
these things home or you get it out of the mail,
that's the new toy smell. Children of course, are especially vulnerable,
(09:21):
why because they like to put things in their mouths.
They have smaller bodies that then will absorb the toxin
more easily and quickly, and they're still developing physically and neurologically.
It can overwhelm the system. It can kill them. There
are also health effects like learning and behavioral issues, hormone disruption,
(09:45):
respiratory irritation, organ damage, say to the kidneys and the liver,
developmental delays. I wonder why your kid is just not learning.
What toys did they have growing up? This is a
concern that is I would say increasing among parents who
(10:08):
are concerned about the health of their kids, and I
think most are not saying that as a slight in
any way. Again, knowing is half the battle. And if
you don't know that these toys are toxic, how would
you know to keep them away from your kids. We'll
talk about the dangers of this tonight. David Steinmann coming
back on the program Somewhere between the Paranormal and the Abnormal.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
I'm Jeremy scoutt.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Into the paranormal.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Par Yeah, Primarily I was talking about the chemicals that
are in some of these toys that parents may not
(11:08):
be aware of. You know, it used to be that
we just had to worry about kids choice choking, right
because they would get a hold of a toy and
maybe it has a small part on it and that
would break off. You know, kids like to put things
in their mouths, as I said earlier, so maybe they
bite it off or something gets in their mouth, and
(11:29):
the choking hazard has always been real. It's been a
fear of parents since you know, the beginning of time,
seemingly since uh, well, after Adam and Eve, and then
somebody figured out, you know, kids need to be entertained.
I don't know how that came to be, but eventually,
after Adam and Eve you know, birthed a baby, we
(11:49):
finally found out that kids needed something to captivate their
attention that you know, humans weren't enough, and so we
had to build something that was on the level with
a child's brain, something that would engage them. And perhaps
these were just simple things back in the days and
there wasn't much to it, and maybe they're not so
(12:12):
simple much anymore. And with manufacturing, mass manufacturing, I'm sure
cost has a lot to do with it. So safety
really pays as a result of all of this. But now,
of course, the way that these things are made really
is a concern that every parent should have. I think
(12:34):
it's important that we bring this to the forefront, especially
now less than two weeks from Christmas, when perhaps the
orders have already been submitted, the presents have already been wrapped,
and maybe they are under the tree. But oh wait,
if you're a procrastinator and you'll be shopping this weekend
or the next, maybe there's still time to get this
(12:55):
information out there. And there's always next year, and there's
birthdays and other occasions. Or we'll be buying toys for
our kids and for others as well. So wannor to
welcome back to the program. David Steinmann an award winning
investigative journalist who has written best selling and critically acclaimed
books on the environment and health. He's the full time
(13:15):
chief officer of the nonprofit Chemical Tocsin Working Group, also
known as the Healthy Living Foundation, which is a public interest,
environmental and consumer advocacy organization that takes legal action and
litigates on behalf of consumers and the environment. Perhaps you've
seen David's work and you may not know it. His
work in the area of safe cosmetics, taken from his
(13:38):
new book Raising Healthy Kids Protecting Your Children from Hidden
chemical toxins, is featured in the HBO Max documentary Not
So Pretty. Here he is David Steinmann welcome to the program.
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Oh I'm so glad to be here today.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
My pleasure. So, I mean, this is a real danger.
These are not just one or two toys that parents
should avoid. There's many of them. And what exactly are
we talking about when we say something you know is toxic.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well, the kinds of toxicity we're talking about today are
primarily impacts on your children's long term health and in
immediate health too. For example, now you're right, Jeremy, that
we all always used to be concerned about choking, and
(14:38):
we've learned a lot over the last few years. Just
for example, take a wooden wooden painted blocks, which which
kids have been playing with since since there was an
alphabet I suppose her before, sure, but a lot of them.
(14:58):
First of all, about eighty five five percent of the
toys that we buy in America are made in China.
And that's a really big thing to understand. The group
for which I'm chief officer, a Healthy Living Foundation Chemical
Talks and Working Group, does a lot of testing of
Chinese products. And if you want to find a lot
(15:19):
of lead, you test Chinese products. And it's just the
way it is that country has been on lead overload
for decades and it shows up in their toys. So
take those wooden blocks that are painted, if they're from China,
I'd be really careful about the amount of lead that
could be in that paint and that your infant may
(15:43):
absorb by biting the block, by fingering it and then
touching their fingers to their lips. So that's an example
of something that people just may not realize is potentially
quite harmful to your children's cognitive abilities, their behavior, and
later on in their life, their health because let can
(16:07):
cause hypertension, it can cause infertility, and it can it's
even linked with cancer. So that's one example, just the
simple wooden blocks that may be painted. And so before
people freak out and say, well, I've got them in
my house, you know you should know there are safe
alternatives too. There's there are companies that are being very
(16:29):
sensitive to our needs. So I'll give you the bad news,
but I will also try to give you alternatives. Another
great example, I'll do one more. Kids get a lot
of toys that are made out of pliable rubber. For example,
you know there are lots of rubber chickens, there are
(16:50):
rubber duckies that they float with in the bathtub, and
these can also shed highly toxic chemicals like thoull ads.
And again it's from handling the toys and the fat
thaltes are used along with polyvinyl chloride. Thalates are endocring disruptors.
(17:10):
That means they interfere with your child sex hormones and
PVC or polyvinyl chloride, is highly carcinogenic. So you know,
you may be buying flexible toys made out of rubber
and it could be you know, a little spongeball, it
could be that duck or gosh, even toys like Barbie
(17:34):
dolls and other dolls are made out of polyvinyl. So
again we might not be aware of this as parents,
but we need to be. And this is all really
new for parents. But again there are safer dolls and toys,
and a lot of them come from Germany, for example,
and so you can find safer, safer alternatives too.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
I mean, how can thalites even be all on the
market anymore? I mean, after the US Product Consumer Product
Safety Commission basically said that toys children's articles cannot contain
these chemicals, well certain amounts of it, and yet they're
still showing.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Up that's a fantastic question. One, you can imagine the
lack of testing that's going on now with imports, given
all the federal cutdowns. Two, the safety levels established for
consumer products are really high amounts of thallates. So even
(18:39):
if a product is supposedly under the limit of thalates
which are allowed in products by the CPSC, it's still
really high. You're going to have really high exposure. And Three,
our testing has found thollates in many children's products. You know,
(19:03):
one of the gifts that parents may get for their children,
for example, or bubble baths. You know, maybe grandma or
grandpa you know, gives gives their kids their child, you know,
these products and just say, well, you know, this is
very practical, but it's also a Christmas gift. We have
(19:23):
found really high amounts of thalates in a number of
children's personal care products, so they are being widely used.
And again I would be very careful and probably not
buy products from China because these products will be most
likely to have the highest amounts of thalates.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
So the assumption that even an ordinary consumer might have,
let alone a parent or a grandparent or anybody buying
a gift free a child, this Christmas, that everything's going
to be safe, it's going to be regulated because we
have all of these agencies.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
That is a pipe dream.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Oh that's a total pipe dream. I mean because what
we allow, you know. Just to give you some examples,
here are some iconic toys Jase.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
When we get back with David Steinman our guest tonight
on into the Pair of Normal.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
Pair of Normal news on George Henry. NASA is working
to restore contact with one of its most advanced interplanetary
satellites orbiting Mars. Communications have been lost with the Maven
orbiter as it passed behind the planet, which is not unexpected,
but NASA says it's deep span network did not regain
contact once Maven re emerged. Teams are now investigating the anomaly.
(21:07):
Maven has been in orbit for eleven years, studying how
mars atmosphere has changed over time and how it interacts
with solar winds. The satellite also serves as a vital
communications relay for missions on the surface, including the Perseverance
and Curiosity rovers. Here Pairubnormal news every hour on into
(21:27):
the Pairubnormal.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
An alarming new warning for parents to be.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Wary of the toys that you're buying toxic toys.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
Maybe toys still out dangerous levels of toxic chemicals.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
La acts were playing the found phrases of pray ags
and toy prime left.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You ask customs and Border protection officers uncover the toys
and they say they contained cazardus chemicals, So unsafe design.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Try lead levels.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Also data collecting toys that can violate children's privacy. Your
children may still be playing with toxic toys of toys.
Hang on for the ride. You're headed into the fair
of normal.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
The assumption that it's safe just because it's on the
shelf and you can buy it and you can give
it to a child, Can you give it to anybody?
Because there's also some kids at heart out there in
the audience. Make up is a surprise. Talking with David
Steinmann tonight, author of Raising Healthy Kids Protecting Your Children
(22:51):
from Hidden chemical toxins. All right, so the assumption is
not correct here, and you are about ready to give
it a list of some of these toys that are problematic.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Oh, that's right. So for example, these are toys that
you're gonna see like when you go into a toy
store or online, like Alex chock and twist up craylons
in one study were found to be high in mercury.
Their Best Friends bracelets were found to be high in arsenic.
Barbie dolls Mattil did get rid of solvent based paints
(23:28):
for Barbie's eyes, but Barbie is still made out of
in part polyvinyl chloride. J C toys these again are
baby dolls, are usually made of vinyl. And when you
go buy Manhattan toys again very popular. All of these
are made out of polyurrathane. Tubing massoms which were really popular,
(23:53):
were found to contain xylene and even match Box Wonderful,
match Box out toxic chemicals. My Little Pony is made
out of vinyl. All of this is legal, but it's
not necessarily the healthiest way of you know, celebrating Christmas
with your kids. These all have safer alternatives.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Yeah, and we'll get into that.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
Would you say that that toys though these days, that
this is more of a widespread problem, there's more contamination,
say in toys that people are buying in a twenty
twenty five say, you know than twenty thirty years ago.
I mean back when I was a kid, you know,
(24:39):
twenty five years ago or so more.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I you know, that's a great question. I suspect it's
that we've kind of become more aware of these kinds
of exposures. I think toys were probably pretty dangerous and
caused a lot of mischief in you know, thirty years
ago too. You know, they can interfere with your kids,
(25:03):
your boys production of testosterone. The thing is, it's not
like you know, choking, which is an acute hazard or suffocation.
But if you look at the way society is right now,
people couples are having difficulty conceiving. There's a great deal
of infertility in society, which is caused by both men
(25:27):
and women. Uh. Cancer rates of environment for environmental rates
for environmental cancers are going up. Our kids cancer rates
are going up. And what we have found, particularly over
the last few years, is that our kids' bodies are
being inundated with what we call nanoplastics or microplastics. So
(25:50):
just for example, in the past, you know, even consumer
advocates will say, well, lego building blocks are fine for kids,
are safer for kids because they're made out of a
certain kind of plastic which is non leaching. But now
we know that even these so called non leaching plastics,
(26:11):
which are known as abs plastics, probably do leach micro,
micro and nanoparticles of plastic into our kids' bodies. And
these in fact, there's so much plastic that when researchers
have looked at it, they find it in kids sex
organs in their brain, in their brains and their sex organs,
(26:36):
and the amounts you know, can be analogized to more
than say a credit card's worth a plastic in the
brains of people. And so these are things that we're
just learning about, and it's kind of up to us
as parents in this kind of a world to keep
our kids safe because they're not thinking of these things.
(26:58):
So you know, there are for example, you can find
wooden blocks as I mentioned, that are made out of
water solvent, that are painted with water solvents, solvent free
water based colors. You can find products that are made
out of organic dolls that are made out of organic materials,
(27:21):
and you can find these, you know, at toy stores.
You can go on Amazon and just google toxic free
Amazon and you'll find toxic free toys. So there's a
lot of options. It's actually kind of a good thing
that we're discovering this because not only are we protecting
(27:41):
our kids, but now we can support those producers of
safer toys and direct the market into a safer place
at a time when our regulators are really kind of
hopeless in terms of protecting us.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
And so maybe some of the ailments that we have
as adults could be from the toys that we played
with as children, unbeknownst to our parents, our grandparents, who
will give these things to us to play with.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
They would certainly be contributors. Again, you know, as I
write in my book Raising Healthy Kids, protecting your children
from hidden chemical toxins, it's a three hundred and sixty
degree approach that you need to take. Certainly, buying toys
at Christmas as part of it, but you know, it's
also the foods that you feed your kids and the
(28:32):
clothes that they wear where they can absorb toxic chemicals.
They're personal care products, you know, and also with personal
care products, you know, for you know, we can talk
a little bit about personal care products and the holidays too,
because as our kids turn into teens, a lot of
parents end up buying them, you know, cosmetic products that
they put into their stockings, you know, at Christmas time,
(28:55):
or we might buy them shampoos and stuff or you know,
shaving cream.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Things, fire packages from time to time. Absolutely and entertainted.
In fact, going back to what you were talking about,
the plastics and the brain, there was actually a study
which found that concentrations of these tiny micro and nanoplastics
in healthy human brain tissue went up by about fifty
(29:23):
percent between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four, and that
plastic concentration in people who died with dementia was even higher,
about six times higher than those in healthy brains. These
plastics really are an issue. They're in the food that
we eat, there in the water that we drink, and
(29:45):
they're in many household products.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Oh yeah, including the toys we get for Christmas. That's
why you know, it's almost impossible, it's impossible in today
to go plastic free, but you can reduce the amount
of exposure for your kids because it starts building up
in childhood. And that's why, you know, the study that
you're citing found so much higher levels of plastic in
(30:11):
the brains of dementia patients, and that's you know, we
have to be really careful as parents because these problems
start in childhood.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
There's two things that I did recently. I don't know
if it's going to have any effect. It certainly makes
me feel better. I'll tell you about that when we'll come.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Back into the pair of normal pair.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Of harmful plastics.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
They are in many household objects, maybe the cleaners that
you use, but also even the products and.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
The device is.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
I'm sure those are are also being used in the
manufacture of those products. Two things that I did recently,
and like I said, I don't know if this makes
much difference, but it makes me feel better. And that
is one. We replaced all of our to go containers
that were plastic with glass. And we also replaced our
(31:24):
plastic cutting boards which was probably getting shards of plastic
in our food every time we cut up meat and
that sort of thing with a stainless steel cutting board.
Those are two things that we did in my household.
Like I said, I don't know if that is going
to make any difference, but part of it is the awareness, David,
(31:45):
wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah? And I think it is the awareness, but you know,
it does make a difference. I have a new article
that will be coming on on my substack, which you
can subscribe to a substack David Steinman. But you know,
our bodies are really quite sensitive to environmental influences, and
if you look at the changes you're making in your
(32:08):
own life, you will start to feel them. And are
sensitive to your body, you will start to feel them
almost immediately. These are very important things to do, and
you know, turning it back to Christmas, we can use
this time of year to really put our kids on
the right path to health. You know, just take for example,
(32:29):
we're before the break. I think we were talking a
little bit about cosmetics and stocking stuffers and you know,
and as kids get a little older, you know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
all of a sudden they're really into fragrances, perfumes, you
know all, you know, appealing to the you know, to
(32:50):
other people, you know, because that's there's now into that
team the teen years. And one of the great gifts
you can do, like for your kids is to buy
them or get cosmetics. There's brands like og Uh, Well, Leita,
doctor Halshka. These make great stocking stuffers and they also
are a great way for mom and dad to open
(33:13):
up that conversation with their kids and say, oh yeah,
I got you these. You know, they're they're non toxic,
they're organic, and you won't get exposed to all those
toxic chemicals you know in your Revlon or you know,
mabe Lene products, you know, cosmetics or swab or whatever
the you know, herbal essences or whatever the kids are using.
(33:35):
So you can really educate them at the same time
despite being a little smarter in your shopping choices and
putting those safer products and better products usually into their
into their stockings, if not their hands.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
I think I know the answer to this question.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
But why is uh, why are all the majority of
these toys that are ending up under the Christmas tree
made in China?
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Is it because it is cheaper?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's cheaper, and that's just not where well,
you know, according to the tear ups, we should be
making all these toys in America. But you know, toys
use highly you know, we're talking about the end product.
But even these safe products like legos require when they're
(34:31):
when their raw materials are being used and they're being shaped,
whether they're recycled, but that first time, they use very
toxic starter ingredients like acrylonitrile, beautyteine. These are highly carcon
beauty tines highly carcinogenic. So you know, the worker safety
standards are not great in America, but they are no
(34:56):
doubt worse in China. And you know, we're kind of
offshoring our toxic manufacturing. These products, if they were manufactured
in the US would be highly probably highly polluting in
any community. They use many toxic chemicals in their manufacture,
(35:20):
and our regulations are better than China's. We do have
less of a lead problem. So these are probably some
of the reasons why all that manufacturing is going there.
But it's also important to note that some of the
safer toys are being made in other countries, such as Germany.
(35:43):
Some are made in the US and other European nations,
So there are other nations making safe toxic toys, even
if China seems to be specializing in the low end
highest toxicity.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
Okay, so the US does a better job of testing. Uh,
there's not a lot of testing, but at least there's
more regulation or more interest in making these safe in
America than there are in some of these other countries
that we may be uh importing from.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I think it's that, you know, because more and more
consumers are tuning into this issue. They are creating small
niche markets for smaller players, and they're responding by making
safer toys. But again, these are a very small percentage
(36:39):
of all the toys that are being manufactured. But but
you can, but you can find these uh just all
sorts of safer toys too. They most of them do
not come from China, though, as I mentioned, they will
come from the European nations or you know, or you
(37:00):
know they may they may come from Europe, but utilize
fair trade and fair labor artisans. For example, there's a
there's a brand called Tara's Treasures and they create these
play mats and uh toys that are handmade with certified
(37:22):
organic New Zealand wool, and they partner with women in Nepal,
Nepalese women to craft these toys. So when you're buying
more eco conscious toys, you're kind of in a really
different mindset. It's no longer mass production, you know, chemical world.
(37:43):
It's more like caring about your world. Just here's another example.
You know, you can find all these, by the way
on Amazon. They're so easy to find, so there's no
real excuse not to do this and make our world
a better place. There's another brand called Singer, but they make,
for example, animal dolls, like there's a beautiful goose that
(38:06):
I that I would love to get one of my kids,
just you know, for the holidays. And this particular product
is made in some small German village from organic cotton wool,
and it's just so adorable and safe and cuddly and
your kids won't be exposed, you know, to pesticides from
(38:29):
or from non organic cotton or a solvent from the colors.
So they're but that they're not being made in China
and often not in the US. There it seems that
most of the sensible toys do come from our European partners.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
So it does sound like in some cases that public
pressure is working that if if it is known that
we want safer toys and safer products, that companies will
have to make a decision. They'll either have to deliver
those safer products or maybe they might go out of
business because somebody else realizes that there's a need for that,
(39:10):
and they may lose business to the company that's selling
these safer alternatives.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Our demand, our consumer choices make a huge difference. And
just as as consumer demand created the organic market for
foods and other products. It's now moving into the toy market.
This is totally being propelled, propelled by a small number
of consumers because Jeremy, you know, the vast majority of
(39:40):
consumers are not thinking this way. And you know, that's
why we have this kind of society we do because
government regulators, you know, write regulations that are so have
so many loopholes. You know, you could drive a jeep
through them.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Well, you know, I mean, the pack of cigarettes has
a warning on it. We would expect that things that
are toxic for us might have the same warning label,
but in many of these cases they don't.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Except in California, for because of Prop. Sixty five, where
products do need to have a warning about high levels
of reproductive toxins or carcinogens that could cause cancer in
the user or reproductive one.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
So your states to do this. More states need to
do this.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Then it sounds like, oh yeah, yeah, other states like
New York and Washington State are moving into this area too,
you know, and people think this is like a lot
of people think it's kind of bad what we're talking about.
They say, why are you talking about these things? One
because our society is really screwed up. And one of
(40:57):
the reasons it's screwed up with fertility to idle dysfunction
is because our kids are being inundated with chemical talk right.
Speaker 6 (41:05):
Our health and their health relies on it. More to
come with David's.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
You your support of into the pair of normal by
buying from the Pair of Normal store at pairobnormal radio
dot com. There's a parallel universe. Bail their separations.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
While we perceive sureality.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
Home of the game.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Let the true renown's all at least.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
Into the pair of nome go into the pair of no,
Go into the paran So the truth this far stranger
that we'd like to believe. You're headed somewhere between the
(42:06):
para normal and the abnormal, into the para normal. I mean.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
The alternative is if states do not step in and
enact local regulations against some of this, that people will
continue to go down the route they are, which is,
you know, dying younger, getting these diseases earlier in life.
Talking with the David Steinmann tonight, author of Racing Healthy Kids,
(42:38):
Protecting Your Children from Hidden chemical toxins, and he's also
the chief officer of the nonprofit Chemical Toxin Working Group.
Great discussion that we've had so far about the toxicity
in some of these things you may put into a
stocking or rap and put under the Christmas tree. I
guess that brings up the tree themselves. So people have
(43:03):
gone the artificial route with the Christmas trees over the
years just so they don't have to continue to buy
a fresh tree, because that can be an ordeal in
and of itself, you know, hauling the thing home, and
the prices are going up as far as that, but
they go to a good cause. Right, So are are
(43:24):
people's artificial trees perhaps tainted with some of these chemicals
as well?
Speaker 2 (43:32):
That's a great point. Yes, the artificial Christmas trees are
often made out of vinyl or polyvinyl chloride, and you know,
this is a great way to infiltrate your home with
more and more microplastics. You won't notice it, but all
that plastic from the tree will be shed into the
(43:53):
air you breathe and into the dust and you'll inhale
that dust. So you will inhale ton not literally tons,
let's just say, uh grands over a time of micro
and nanoplastics from your Christmas tree. So you know a
(44:14):
lot of folks, if they can, they do buy live trees.
They buy either cut trees or live trees to avoid
to avoid the polyviny chloride. So it would be a
great idea. And while you're at it, you know, all
those all those ornaments, all those ornaments that we put
(44:36):
on the trees are so likely to have like cadmium
and lead. So when you're shopping for ornaments, you should
definitely look for heavy metal free because because you know
they're they do, they will have just a lot of
(44:58):
lead on them. So you've got to be really careful.
Now you may have some family heirlooms from years past
that will have lead, and so if you're putting these up,
have your kids wash their hands when they're done, because
(45:19):
they will absorb lead from lead academium from these ornaments.
You can find ornaments that are heavy metal free too,
and you should look for these. You can, you know,
plug in on Google ornaments free of heavy metals and
you'll find certain brands that will be free from heavy metals.
Speaker 6 (45:43):
And I'm guessing that many of these ingredients that could
be harmful to our health are found in a variety
of products. So some of this information might be repetitive,
But say, also if you're hanging Christmas line lights, I
guess there's a possibility that some of those could be
(46:04):
hazardous to our health. It certainly hazardous to our health
when you're up there on a ladder trying to hang
these things from time to time. That's a common injury
during the Christmas season, people falling while hanging up Christmas lights.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, yeah, obviously. And also the colored lights, as you
handle them, the paint will come off from the lights
that are colored because they're usually the paint is not
embedded into the glass, it's painted on, and so in
that case, you want to be careful. Also, you know,
(46:42):
as kids do get a little older, there's some other
really interesting gifts you can give them. I was thinking
about cell phones, for example, and one really great gift
for your kids would be to get them air ponds
or earphones that are free of electromagnetic frequency radiation because
(47:10):
and also there's a brand called body Well, and you
can buy a little stick on patch that goes on
the phone itself and it attracts the EMFs into that
rather than into your kids' bodies. And if you notice
the way kids carry their cell phones. You know, they'll
either put them in their side pocket or their back pocket,
(47:31):
and they are getting exposed to a lot of EMFs
when they carry their phones that way. So these are
kind of simple little gifts, but they really will make
your kids' lives healthier and your life easier because, as
I said, our bodies respond immediately to healthy influences.
Speaker 6 (47:51):
Yeah, so you've noticed an almost immediate change in your
life and and others as well, from once you're aware
that this is a problem, making the change and seeing
an immediate effect.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
In some cases, I.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Think if most if people are attuned to their bodies
and their health, they'll notice it right away. I mean,
just as an example, suppose one night for dinner, you know,
you eat some fast food burger or something like that,
and then another night you eat just say, sweet potatoes
(48:33):
with a little cinnamon, a really simple food. Now ask
your body, how do I feel after that burger versus
how do I feel after those yams or sweet potatoes.
It's gonna tell you I feel a lot better after
the and make them organic too, I feel a lot
better after that simpler food. Your body is telling you
(48:54):
right away. It will tell you the same thing with
the use of cosmetics personal care products, you would just
start to feel better almost immediately because your body is saying,
oh yeah, the messenger RNA is taking up these signals
from the environment and writing the instructions for how your
(49:16):
body should react to your genes, and then your DNA
is modified in a positive way. On the other hand,
if it's being exposed to toxic chemicals, your DNA will
be modified in a negative way, say to produce more
toxic estrogen if it's an endocrine disrupting chemical.
Speaker 6 (49:35):
I think we alluded to this earlier, but there's a
problem with these products not being labeled to appearance should
not rely on that. Then what red flags would you
say they should maybe look for just generally when buying
anything for their child.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
So the first thing, of course is Chinese imported toys.
That's the first red flag. The second red flag would
be flexible toys like rubber ducks or those made from
rubber or other plastics, because these could contain polyvinyl chloride
and thhalates. A third thing to look out for are
(50:17):
painted toys. Again for very young children. They put these
toys in their mouths and they will end up absorbing
some uh heavy metals. And then also for toys like dolls. Again,
these are the plastic toys. You know, if their skin
(50:41):
is uh, if they're if they're made out of vinyl,
these are these are gonna your kids are gonna absorb
some really toxic chemicals like thalates and polyvinyl chloride. You
can't really have uh flexible toys without that because the
valets softened the plastic.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
All right, this is a vital information tonight from David
Steinmann on into the paranormal.
Speaker 5 (51:07):
I'm Jeremy Scott, into the pair of normal.
Speaker 6 (51:30):
I'm Jeremy Scott, somewhere between the paranormal and the abnormal.
Speaker 5 (51:34):
You've already got a couple of gifts under our tree.
What about you?
Speaker 6 (51:38):
Tis the season we're going to be talking about some
of these safer alternatives, David. It is important that people
know that there are safer alternatives out there. Maybe those
alternatives could cost more, maybe they might not be as
readily available, Maybe you may have to look a little hard.
(52:00):
But give parents some options I think you already have,
but I mean, maybe a more exhaustive list here and.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
That I've checked out that are very safe, and I'll
kind of give you some stores where you can buy them.
Apple Park makes plush toys from one certified organic cotton
and they use toxin free dyes and they're stuffed with
corn fibers, so they're completely plastic free. That's Apple Park
(52:30):
and you can get them from Amazon or Nordstrum. Begin
Again makes rubber toys out of one natural rubber. They
also make puzzles out of wood and other kinds of
non toxic toys, and you can get these again at
Amazon or Target. One line that I really love for
(52:53):
zero to three year olds are wooden toys and Camden
Rose is a great source for wooden toys and teethers
that are made from either just plain wood, food grade
mineral oil and avoid plastics. If you want to get
your kids a painting kit, look at elsewhere Unplugged. It
(53:16):
used to be known as Eco Kids and they make
art supplies like modeling dough and earth paints that are
one free from chemical toxins. And again you can get
these at a a Bela Luna. And there's another brand
(53:38):
for toys like Tonka Toys, but these are safer and
made out of wood, and these are made in Germany.
It's called Fagas and they're made out of beech wood
and they're made without screws, nails, or staples. Really a
great company that's a fair wage company. They employ individuals
with disabilities, and you can buy them again on Amazon
(53:59):
and that's Vegas. There are just so many great options
for our kids and it just teaches, you know, it
just teaches them a little bit more about their world.
And these are very meaningful gifts. They will last longer too,
you know, And I think that's kind of an important
implicit message is we don't want to be a throwaway society.
(54:23):
We've kind of reached the apoge of throw awayism in
the society. And a lot of these toys, just like
the Fagas toys, they're meant to last. Gosh, they'll last
from your oldest child to your youngest child. They're great
hand me downs and when your kids are through with them,
you can give them away to other kids. These are
(54:44):
toys that are meant to last. And that's the kind
of society sustainable that we as parents want to create
for our kids.
Speaker 6 (54:52):
Part of it is knowing where to look if there
are not going to be the necessary what we would
consider necessary warning label on the product. Is there a database,
a list of resources that you would point us to
that we could keep up to date on the safety
of some of these products and also current recalls.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
Yeah, for for recalls, you should definitely go to the
Consumer Product Safety Commission and just plug in toy recalls.
For finding safe toys, there's the Healthy Stuff Labs. You
can google Healthy Stuff and they list a lot of
(55:36):
safe and toys and all their investigations. I would recommend
them as well. And there's UH in Washington State. Go
to Toxic Free Future. They are based in Washington State and
they have great resources on toys too.
Speaker 6 (55:57):
It's important that we're not buying these product that are
under recall and certainly giving them as gifts. But again
we may not always know and they may not be
taken off the shelves right away. That's another concern.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
Oh, toys can be on will be on the market. Well.
First of all, most of the recalls that we're dealing
with are for choking hazards and those you've just got
to be careful as a parent and watch your kids
when with their toys, and you be sensible, don't give
ways that they can you know that are too small
(56:36):
for their age that they can put in their mouth
and swallow. But it's much more rare to see toys
recall for toxic chemicals, not because the toxic chemicals aren't there,
but because either the levels that would initiate a recall
are so high that they allow allow a lot of
(56:56):
products to get to the market, or as I mentioned,
they're just missed because no one is doing enough testing
to cover all the products. So I always tell mom
and dad, you have to look out for your kids.
Number one, Uncle Sam is not going to be there
all the time to protect you.
Speaker 5 (57:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (57:17):
And what about the use of artificial intelligence in some
of these products that could be collecting data and could
pose a privacy concern. It seems like that's more of
a threat now than it ever used to be.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Yeah, I uh that that's and that's a whole new issue.
I would also be careful about letting your kids sign
up for things online if if those are that's involved.
You know, you have to be really you have to
(57:55):
watch your kids. And frankly, as a parent of three kids,
you know, I try to keep them into other things
just you know, just to kind of take you in
a little different direction. Another great kind of non toxic
Christmas gift is to buy your kids books and get
them to read again. And there are so many great
(58:18):
books what we call green literature for kids. There's Carol
Linstrom wrote We Are Water Protectors, Chabbies. Larkin wrote The
Thing about Bees a love letter. Mark Brown wrote, Arthur
turns green. I have a substat coming out on great
books for young kids that also educate them about the environment,
(58:41):
but they also will help to promote a longer attention
span and higher intelligence level, which I'm all in favor
of for our kids. So you know, books that you
hold in your hand are not going to ask them
for their passwords, IDs or anything else, and I think
(59:03):
that's really important.
Speaker 6 (59:05):
Absolutely, we will tell the audience how they can best
follow you on the internet and about where they can
find your book.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
Sure, you can find me at Instagram on David Steinman
Underslash author. You can find me at David William Steinman
dot com, my website, and I have a substack and
you can visit and subscribe to my David William Steinman's substack.
(59:38):
These are and then Twitter is by David Steinman. So yeah,
I look for I post all the time and I
Also I'm on YouTube. You can get me at David
Steinmann Underscore author and I will be doing some YouTube
videos on save Christmas toy shopping as well.
Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
Solutely best to you, David, appreciate you coming on the program.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Thanks Jeremy Merry Christmas have her honestness to everything as well.
Speaker 5 (01:00:07):
We'll be back. There's some toys to want to cross
off your shops this season. At first last, these toys
look like they could.
Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Be a great gift, but they're actually a danger to
your children.
Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
These are the toys consumer advocates say no children should
play with.
Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Many toys still have dangerous levels of toxic chemicals and
let this toy does not have the appropriate choking hazard
Ltble children die from similar products.
Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
I always have to think, is this safer? Into the
(01:00:59):
pair of norm
Five four three two one.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Are you interrupt our programs or bring you this important message?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
A confirmed attack is taking place against the United States.
Aliens from an unknown location have been reported in multiple states.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
We are controlling transmission. There is another rural that awaits
far beyond.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Five four pray two one.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Are you interrupt our programs or bring you this important message?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A confirmed attack is taking place against the United States.
Aliens from an unknown location have been reported in multiple states.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
We are controlling transmission. There is another rural that awaits
far beyond what we can see and feel, a place
that's anything but.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
What you believe might not be.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Step into the song of the best I know expancies
and cover to the pair rev Not a week Ago
with je Scott.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
We are in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.
I love this time of year.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Friends.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
There's perspective because you have to think about how fortunate
you are to even be able to provide for others
what you can. I don't know about you, but I
get that really good feeling when I'm able to do
something nice for others. That is magnified, of course, around
this time of year. Those who don't have a fan,
(02:01):
it can be a very very difficult time for them.
So if you would take any sort of comfort in
listening to the program, so we hope you take a
little bit of comfort at least in the program, especially
as you listen around the holidays, knowing that.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
You're not alone.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
We're here and you and I share a similar interest
in this kind of stuff. I mean, that's why you
come and listen to the program on a regular basis.
I hope you listen on a regular basis. I mean,
we've made it very easy for you to listen free.
You don't need a membership or a subscription. Now we
do offer that for those who want to listen to
(02:39):
the program commercial free, but by all means, the show
is free and accessible anytime on any of the podcast apps.
You just have to search for into the pair Abnormal
and to give us a follow, and then those episodes
will download and be available to you to listen anytime
on your schedule. Because we are also busy this season,
(03:01):
this time of the year, during the Christmas season. And
I'm gonna say Christmas because I celebrate Christmas. I don't
celebrate other holidays, So I just say what I celebrate,
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, you don't have to
tell me Merry Christmas back, but if you wish me
one of your holidays, I will try to wish you
(03:22):
that holiday in return, because that's what you're celebrating. I'm
wishing you goodwill, goodwill toward men, right, So what the
season is all about? It's not about arguing over whether
or not it's Christmas or Hanukkah or any of the
other celebrations that take place kwansa of course.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
But that tis the season. I mean.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Perhaps you are, as they say, rushing home with your treasures.
Can you name that tune? As the shoppers rush home
with their treasures? I love that Christmas. I love Christmas music,
good Christmas music, that is. And we've been fortunate to
(04:10):
be able to provide a good Christmas this year. It
hasn't always been that way. But it's not always about
the gifts. Of course, as I mentioned, it makes you
feel good inside when you find the perfect gift for
somebody on your list. Tonight's program, those should make you
(04:30):
check that list twice before you check out. And whether
that's at the actual register, which I feel is a
dying breed. Maybe I'm speaking for myself. It's so much
easier to swipe left and swipe right. Wait, that's a
different app, but it's so much easier to just hit
(04:51):
add to Karte check out, especially when you're getting that
free shipping and it may arrive overnight.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
I know that was the case.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Actually, I'm looking at a package right now that as
soon as I get done with, I'm going to wrap
up before the missus finds it. But before you hit
that checkout button, you might want to consider what we're
going to tell you tonight on the program, because knowing
really is half the battle. Particularly parents and grandparents, this
(05:23):
information would be vital for but really, anyone buying a
toy for children this year. Many donate to toy drives,
maybe the Black the White Elephant gift, the Game of Christmas,
whatever you call it. Or you buy a gift for
(05:46):
somebody that you don't know, or maybe you don't know
them that well. So if you're buying a toy for
a child this year, you should probably know that not
all of them are safe. I mean, it seems like
an no brainer that we need to raise our kids
to be healthy so we can give them the best
chance of success in life. I think every parent would
(06:08):
want that, and it's not necessarily an issue of parents
saying I'm knowingly going to give my son or my
daughter something that could harm them or kill them. But again,
as I said, knowing is half the battle, and many
do not know that. Many of these toys are not
(06:31):
safe for kids. Some of these children's products contain toxic
caustic hazard is, however you want to refer to them, chemicals,
materials capable of harming a child's health. These dangers aren't
always obvious either. Many cases, the products are legal, but
(06:57):
often poorly regulated or with cheaper, unsafe components. There's a
several problems with how this is regulated or not regulated.
The regulations really are weak, they're inconsistent, safety standards vary
by country. Imported toys aren't always tested thoroughly. There's cheap
(07:23):
manufacturing materials. Of course, that's use. Everybody's got to try
to sell things for the most profits. So if you're
spending the least on materials, you have a chance of
making more of a profit. So we're talking about low
cost plastics and paints and metals, which yeah, they cost less,
(07:45):
but they contain harmful additives. And then we've got counterfeit products,
unlabeled products, knockoff toys, some of them sold online or
in discount shops which completely skip safety compliance entirely. Common
(08:07):
toxins include heavy metals like lead, which is found in
paint coatings, are plastics, Calca cadmium, which is used in
batteries and pigments. Mercury still being found in some metallic
components and counterfeit toys. Thalites used to as softened plastics,
(08:35):
still found in some dolls, inflatables and rubbery toys, BPA,
which is common in hard plastics. We've talked about the
forever chemicals PFASs pfas, which can appear in water resistant
materials and coatings. Flame retardants found in foam toys, stuffed animals,
(08:58):
and sleep related eyes items, VOCs, volatile organic compounds. That's
what gives it the new toy smell. When you bring
these things home or you get it out of the mail,
that's the new toy smell. Children of course, are especially vulnerable,
(09:21):
why because they like to put things in their mouths.
They have smaller bodies that then will absorb the toxin
more easily and quickly, and they're still developing physically and neurologically.
It can overwhelm the system. It can kill them. There
are also health effects like learning and behavioral issues, hormone disruption,
(09:45):
respiratory irritation, organ damage, say to the kidneys and the liver,
developmental delays. I wonder why your kid is just not learning.
What toys did they have growing up? This is a
concern that is I would say increasing among parents who
(10:08):
are concerned about the health of their kids, and I
think most are not saying that as a slight in
any way. Again, knowing is half the battle. And if
you don't know that these toys are toxic, how would
you know to keep them away from your kids. We'll
talk about the dangers of this tonight. David Steinmann coming
back on the program Somewhere between the Paranormal and the Abnormal.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
I'm Jeremy scoutt.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Into the paranormal.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Par Yeah, Primarily I was talking about the chemicals that
are in some of these toys that parents may not
(11:08):
be aware of. You know, it used to be that
we just had to worry about kids choice choking, right
because they would get a hold of a toy and
maybe it has a small part on it and that
would break off. You know, kids like to put things
in their mouths, as I said earlier, so maybe they
bite it off or something gets in their mouth, and
(11:29):
the choking hazard has always been real. It's been a
fear of parents since you know, the beginning of time,
seemingly since uh, well, after Adam and Eve, and then
somebody figured out, you know, kids need to be entertained.
I don't know how that came to be, but eventually,
after Adam and Eve you know, birthed a baby, we
(11:49):
finally found out that kids needed something to captivate their
attention that you know, humans weren't enough, and so we
had to build something that was on the level with
a child's brain, something that would engage them. And perhaps
these were just simple things back in the days and
there wasn't much to it, and maybe they're not so
(12:12):
simple much anymore. And with manufacturing, mass manufacturing, I'm sure
cost has a lot to do with it. So safety
really pays as a result of all of this. But now,
of course, the way that these things are made really
is a concern that every parent should have. I think
(12:34):
it's important that we bring this to the forefront, especially
now less than two weeks from Christmas, when perhaps the
orders have already been submitted, the presents have already been wrapped,
and maybe they are under the tree. But oh wait,
if you're a procrastinator and you'll be shopping this weekend
or the next, maybe there's still time to get this
(12:55):
information out there. And there's always next year, and there's
birthdays and other occasions. Or we'll be buying toys for
our kids and for others as well. So wannor to
welcome back to the program. David Steinmann an award winning
investigative journalist who has written best selling and critically acclaimed
books on the environment and health. He's the full time
(13:15):
chief officer of the nonprofit Chemical Tocsin Working Group, also
known as the Healthy Living Foundation, which is a public interest,
environmental and consumer advocacy organization that takes legal action and
litigates on behalf of consumers and the environment. Perhaps you've
seen David's work and you may not know it. His
work in the area of safe cosmetics, taken from his
(13:38):
new book Raising Healthy Kids Protecting Your Children from Hidden
chemical toxins, is featured in the HBO Max documentary Not
So Pretty. Here he is David Steinmann welcome to the program.
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Oh I'm so glad to be here today.
Speaker 6 (13:53):
My pleasure. So, I mean, this is a real danger.
These are not just one or two toys that parents
should avoid. There's many of them. And what exactly are
we talking about when we say something you know is toxic.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well, the kinds of toxicity we're talking about today are
primarily impacts on your children's long term health and in
immediate health too. For example, now you're right, Jeremy, that
we all always used to be concerned about choking, and
(14:38):
we've learned a lot over the last few years. Just
for example, take a wooden wooden painted blocks, which which
kids have been playing with since since there was an
alphabet I suppose her before, sure, but a lot of them.
(14:58):
First of all, about eighty five five percent of the
toys that we buy in America are made in China.
And that's a really big thing to understand. The group
for which I'm chief officer, a Healthy Living Foundation Chemical
Talks and Working Group, does a lot of testing of
Chinese products. And if you want to find a lot
(15:19):
of lead, you test Chinese products. And it's just the
way it is that country has been on lead overload
for decades and it shows up in their toys. So
take those wooden blocks that are painted, if they're from China,
I'd be really careful about the amount of lead that
could be in that paint and that your infant may
(15:43):
absorb by biting the block, by fingering it and then
touching their fingers to their lips. So that's an example
of something that people just may not realize is potentially
quite harmful to your children's cognitive abilities, their behavior, and
later on in their life, their health because let can
(16:07):
cause hypertension, it can cause infertility, and it can it's
even linked with cancer. So that's one example, just the
simple wooden blocks that may be painted. And so before
people freak out and say, well, I've got them in
my house, you know you should know there are safe
alternatives too. There's there are companies that are being very
(16:29):
sensitive to our needs. So I'll give you the bad news,
but I will also try to give you alternatives. Another
great example, I'll do one more. Kids get a lot
of toys that are made out of pliable rubber. For example,
you know there are lots of rubber chickens, there are
(16:50):
rubber duckies that they float with in the bathtub, and
these can also shed highly toxic chemicals like thoull ads.
And again it's from handling the toys and the fat
thaltes are used along with polyvinyl chloride. Thalates are endocring disruptors.
(17:10):
That means they interfere with your child sex hormones and
PVC or polyvinyl chloride, is highly carcinogenic. So you know,
you may be buying flexible toys made out of rubber
and it could be you know, a little spongeball, it
could be that duck or gosh, even toys like Barbie
(17:34):
dolls and other dolls are made out of polyvinyl. So
again we might not be aware of this as parents,
but we need to be. And this is all really
new for parents. But again there are safer dolls and toys,
and a lot of them come from Germany, for example,
and so you can find safer, safer alternatives too.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
I mean, how can thalites even be all on the
market anymore? I mean, after the US Product Consumer Product
Safety Commission basically said that toys children's articles cannot contain
these chemicals, well certain amounts of it, and yet they're
still showing.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Up that's a fantastic question. One, you can imagine the
lack of testing that's going on now with imports, given
all the federal cutdowns. Two, the safety levels established for
consumer products are really high amounts of thallates. So even
(18:39):
if a product is supposedly under the limit of thalates
which are allowed in products by the CPSC, it's still
really high. You're going to have really high exposure. And Three,
our testing has found thollates in many children's products. You know,
(19:03):
one of the gifts that parents may get for their children,
for example, or bubble baths. You know, maybe grandma or
grandpa you know, gives gives their kids their child, you know,
these products and just say, well, you know, this is
very practical, but it's also a Christmas gift. We have
(19:23):
found really high amounts of thalates in a number of
children's personal care products, so they are being widely used.
And again I would be very careful and probably not
buy products from China because these products will be most
likely to have the highest amounts of thalates.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
So the assumption that even an ordinary consumer might have,
let alone a parent or a grandparent or anybody buying
a gift free a child, this Christmas, that everything's going
to be safe, it's going to be regulated because we
have all of these agencies.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
That is a pipe dream.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Oh that's a total pipe dream. I mean because what
we allow, you know. Just to give you some examples,
here are some iconic toys Jase.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
When we get back with David Steinman our guest tonight
on into the Pair of Normal.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 7 (20:42):
Pair of Normal news on George Henry. NASA is working
to restore contact with one of its most advanced interplanetary
satellites orbiting Mars. Communications have been lost with the Maven
orbiter as it passed behind the planet, which is not unexpected,
but NASA says it's deep span network did not regain
contact once Maven re emerged. Teams are now investigating the anomaly.
(21:07):
Maven has been in orbit for eleven years, studying how
mars atmosphere has changed over time and how it interacts
with solar winds. The satellite also serves as a vital
communications relay for missions on the surface, including the Perseverance
and Curiosity rovers. Here Pairubnormal news every hour on into
(21:27):
the Pairubnormal.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
An alarming new warning for parents to be.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Wary of the toys that you're buying toxic toys.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
Maybe toys still out dangerous levels of toxic chemicals.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
La acts were playing the found phrases of pray ags
and toy prime left.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You ask customs and Border protection officers uncover the toys
and they say they contained cazardus chemicals, So unsafe design.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Try lead levels.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Also data collecting toys that can violate children's privacy. Your
children may still be playing with toxic toys of toys.
Hang on for the ride. You're headed into the fair
of normal.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
The assumption that it's safe just because it's on the
shelf and you can buy it and you can give
it to a child, Can you give it to anybody?
Because there's also some kids at heart out there in
the audience. Make up is a surprise. Talking with David
Steinmann tonight, author of Raising Healthy Kids Protecting Your Children
(22:51):
from Hidden chemical toxins. All right, so the assumption is
not correct here, and you are about ready to give
it a list of some of these toys that are problematic.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Oh, that's right. So for example, these are toys that
you're gonna see like when you go into a toy
store or online, like Alex chock and twist up craylons
in one study were found to be high in mercury.
Their Best Friends bracelets were found to be high in arsenic.
Barbie dolls Mattil did get rid of solvent based paints
(23:28):
for Barbie's eyes, but Barbie is still made out of
in part polyvinyl chloride. J C toys these again are
baby dolls, are usually made of vinyl. And when you
go buy Manhattan toys again very popular. All of these
are made out of polyurrathane. Tubing massoms which were really popular,
(23:53):
were found to contain xylene and even match Box Wonderful,
match Box out toxic chemicals. My Little Pony is made
out of vinyl. All of this is legal, but it's
not necessarily the healthiest way of you know, celebrating Christmas
with your kids. These all have safer alternatives.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Yeah, and we'll get into that.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
Would you say that that toys though these days, that
this is more of a widespread problem, there's more contamination,
say in toys that people are buying in a twenty
twenty five say, you know than twenty thirty years ago.
I mean back when I was a kid, you know,
(24:39):
twenty five years ago or so more.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I you know, that's a great question. I suspect it's
that we've kind of become more aware of these kinds
of exposures. I think toys were probably pretty dangerous and
caused a lot of mischief in you know, thirty years
ago too. You know, they can interfere with your kids,
(25:03):
your boys production of testosterone. The thing is, it's not
like you know, choking, which is an acute hazard or suffocation.
But if you look at the way society is right now,
people couples are having difficulty conceiving. There's a great deal
of infertility in society, which is caused by both men
(25:27):
and women. Uh. Cancer rates of environment for environmental rates
for environmental cancers are going up. Our kids cancer rates
are going up. And what we have found, particularly over
the last few years, is that our kids' bodies are
being inundated with what we call nanoplastics or microplastics. So
(25:50):
just for example, in the past, you know, even consumer
advocates will say, well, lego building blocks are fine for kids,
are safer for kids because they're made out of a
certain kind of plastic which is non leaching. But now
we know that even these so called non leaching plastics,
(26:11):
which are known as abs plastics, probably do leach micro,
micro and nanoparticles of plastic into our kids' bodies. And
these in fact, there's so much plastic that when researchers
have looked at it, they find it in kids sex
organs in their brain, in their brains and their sex organs,
(26:36):
and the amounts you know, can be analogized to more
than say a credit card's worth a plastic in the
brains of people. And so these are things that we're
just learning about, and it's kind of up to us
as parents in this kind of a world to keep
our kids safe because they're not thinking of these things.
(26:58):
So you know, there are for example, you can find
wooden blocks as I mentioned, that are made out of
water solvent, that are painted with water solvents, solvent free
water based colors. You can find products that are made
out of organic dolls that are made out of organic materials,
(27:21):
and you can find these, you know, at toy stores.
You can go on Amazon and just google toxic free
Amazon and you'll find toxic free toys. So there's a
lot of options. It's actually kind of a good thing
that we're discovering this because not only are we protecting
(27:41):
our kids, but now we can support those producers of
safer toys and direct the market into a safer place
at a time when our regulators are really kind of
hopeless in terms of protecting us.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
And so maybe some of the ailments that we have
as adults could be from the toys that we played
with as children, unbeknownst to our parents, our grandparents, who
will give these things to us to play with.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
They would certainly be contributors. Again, you know, as I
write in my book Raising Healthy Kids, protecting your children
from hidden chemical toxins, it's a three hundred and sixty
degree approach that you need to take. Certainly, buying toys
at Christmas as part of it, but you know, it's
also the foods that you feed your kids and the
(28:32):
clothes that they wear where they can absorb toxic chemicals.
They're personal care products, you know, and also with personal
care products, you know, for you know, we can talk
a little bit about personal care products and the holidays too,
because as our kids turn into teens, a lot of
parents end up buying them, you know, cosmetic products that
they put into their stockings, you know, at Christmas time,
(28:55):
or we might buy them shampoos and stuff or you know,
shaving cream.
Speaker 6 (29:01):
Things, fire packages from time to time. Absolutely and entertainted.
In fact, going back to what you were talking about,
the plastics and the brain, there was actually a study
which found that concentrations of these tiny micro and nanoplastics
in healthy human brain tissue went up by about fifty
(29:23):
percent between twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four, and that
plastic concentration in people who died with dementia was even higher,
about six times higher than those in healthy brains. These
plastics really are an issue. They're in the food that
we eat, there in the water that we drink, and
(29:45):
they're in many household products.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Oh yeah, including the toys we get for Christmas. That's
why you know, it's almost impossible, it's impossible in today
to go plastic free, but you can reduce the amount
of exposure for your kids because it starts building up
in childhood. And that's why, you know, the study that
you're citing found so much higher levels of plastic in
(30:11):
the brains of dementia patients, and that's you know, we
have to be really careful as parents because these problems
start in childhood.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
There's two things that I did recently. I don't know
if it's going to have any effect. It certainly makes
me feel better. I'll tell you about that when we'll come.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Back into the pair of normal pair.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Of harmful plastics.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
They are in many household objects, maybe the cleaners that
you use, but also even the products and.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
The device is.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
I'm sure those are are also being used in the
manufacture of those products. Two things that I did recently,
and like I said, I don't know if this makes
much difference, but it makes me feel better. And that
is one. We replaced all of our to go containers
that were plastic with glass. And we also replaced our
(31:24):
plastic cutting boards which was probably getting shards of plastic
in our food every time we cut up meat and
that sort of thing with a stainless steel cutting board.
Those are two things that we did in my household.
Like I said, I don't know if that is going
to make any difference, but part of it is the awareness, David,
(31:45):
wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah? And I think it is the awareness, but you know,
it does make a difference. I have a new article
that will be coming on on my substack, which you
can subscribe to a substack David Steinman. But you know,
our bodies are really quite sensitive to environmental influences, and
if you look at the changes you're making in your
(32:08):
own life, you will start to feel them. And are
sensitive to your body, you will start to feel them
almost immediately. These are very important things to do, and
you know, turning it back to Christmas, we can use
this time of year to really put our kids on
the right path to health. You know, just take for example,
(32:29):
we're before the break. I think we were talking a
little bit about cosmetics and stocking stuffers and you know,
and as kids get a little older, you know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
all of a sudden they're really into fragrances, perfumes, you
know all, you know, appealing to the you know, to
(32:50):
other people, you know, because that's there's now into that
team the teen years. And one of the great gifts
you can do, like for your kids is to buy
them or get cosmetics. There's brands like og Uh, Well, Leita,
doctor Halshka. These make great stocking stuffers and they also
are a great way for mom and dad to open
(33:13):
up that conversation with their kids and say, oh yeah,
I got you these. You know, they're they're non toxic,
they're organic, and you won't get exposed to all those
toxic chemicals you know in your Revlon or you know,
mabe Lene products, you know, cosmetics or swab or whatever
the you know, herbal essences or whatever the kids are using.
(33:35):
So you can really educate them at the same time
despite being a little smarter in your shopping choices and
putting those safer products and better products usually into their
into their stockings, if not their hands.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
I think I know the answer to this question.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
But why is uh, why are all the majority of
these toys that are ending up under the Christmas tree
made in China?
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Is it because it is cheaper?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's cheaper, and that's just not where well,
you know, according to the tear ups, we should be
making all these toys in America. But you know, toys
use highly you know, we're talking about the end product.
But even these safe products like legos require when they're
(34:31):
when their raw materials are being used and they're being shaped,
whether they're recycled, but that first time, they use very
toxic starter ingredients like acrylonitrile, beautyteine. These are highly carcon
beauty tines highly carcinogenic. So you know, the worker safety
standards are not great in America, but they are no
(34:56):
doubt worse in China. And you know, we're kind of
offshoring our toxic manufacturing. These products, if they were manufactured
in the US would be highly probably highly polluting in
any community. They use many toxic chemicals in their manufacture,
(35:20):
and our regulations are better than China's. We do have
less of a lead problem. So these are probably some
of the reasons why all that manufacturing is going there.
But it's also important to note that some of the
safer toys are being made in other countries, such as Germany.
(35:43):
Some are made in the US and other European nations,
So there are other nations making safe toxic toys, even
if China seems to be specializing in the low end
highest toxicity.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
Okay, so the US does a better job of testing. Uh,
there's not a lot of testing, but at least there's
more regulation or more interest in making these safe in
America than there are in some of these other countries
that we may be uh importing from.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I think it's that, you know, because more and more
consumers are tuning into this issue. They are creating small
niche markets for smaller players, and they're responding by making
safer toys. But again, these are a very small percentage
(36:39):
of all the toys that are being manufactured. But but
you can, but you can find these uh just all
sorts of safer toys too. They most of them do
not come from China, though, as I mentioned, they will
come from the European nations or you know, or you
(37:00):
know they may they may come from Europe, but utilize
fair trade and fair labor artisans. For example, there's a
there's a brand called Tara's Treasures and they create these
play mats and uh toys that are handmade with certified
(37:22):
organic New Zealand wool, and they partner with women in Nepal,
Nepalese women to craft these toys. So when you're buying
more eco conscious toys, you're kind of in a really
different mindset. It's no longer mass production, you know, chemical world.
(37:43):
It's more like caring about your world. Just here's another example.
You know, you can find all these, by the way
on Amazon. They're so easy to find, so there's no
real excuse not to do this and make our world
a better place. There's another brand called Singer, but they make,
for example, animal dolls, like there's a beautiful goose that
(38:06):
I that I would love to get one of my kids,
just you know, for the holidays. And this particular product
is made in some small German village from organic cotton wool,
and it's just so adorable and safe and cuddly and
your kids won't be exposed, you know, to pesticides from
(38:29):
or from non organic cotton or a solvent from the colors.
So they're but that they're not being made in China
and often not in the US. There it seems that
most of the sensible toys do come from our European partners.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
So it does sound like in some cases that public
pressure is working that if if it is known that
we want safer toys and safer products, that companies will
have to make a decision. They'll either have to deliver
those safer products or maybe they might go out of
business because somebody else realizes that there's a need for that,
(39:10):
and they may lose business to the company that's selling
these safer alternatives.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Our demand, our consumer choices make a huge difference. And
just as as consumer demand created the organic market for
foods and other products. It's now moving into the toy market.
This is totally being propelled, propelled by a small number
of consumers because Jeremy, you know, the vast majority of
(39:40):
consumers are not thinking this way. And you know, that's
why we have this kind of society we do because
government regulators, you know, write regulations that are so have
so many loopholes. You know, you could drive a jeep
through them.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Well, you know, I mean, the pack of cigarettes has
a warning on it. We would expect that things that
are toxic for us might have the same warning label,
but in many of these cases they don't.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Except in California, for because of Prop. Sixty five, where
products do need to have a warning about high levels
of reproductive toxins or carcinogens that could cause cancer in
the user or reproductive one.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
So your states to do this. More states need to
do this.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Then it sounds like, oh yeah, yeah, other states like
New York and Washington State are moving into this area too,
you know, and people think this is like a lot
of people think it's kind of bad what we're talking about.
They say, why are you talking about these things? One
because our society is really screwed up. And one of
(40:57):
the reasons it's screwed up with fertility to idle dysfunction
is because our kids are being inundated with chemical talk right.
Speaker 6 (41:05):
Our health and their health relies on it. More to
come with David's.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
You your support of into the pair of normal by
buying from the Pair of Normal store at pairobnormal radio
dot com. There's a parallel universe. Bail their separations.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
While we perceive sureality.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
Home of the game.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Let the true renown's all at least.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
Into the pair of nome go into the pair of no,
Go into the paran So the truth this far stranger
that we'd like to believe. You're headed somewhere between the
(42:06):
para normal and the abnormal, into the para normal. I mean.
Speaker 6 (42:15):
The alternative is if states do not step in and
enact local regulations against some of this, that people will
continue to go down the route they are, which is,
you know, dying younger, getting these diseases earlier in life.
Talking with the David Steinmann tonight, author of Racing Healthy Kids,
(42:38):
Protecting Your Children from Hidden chemical toxins, and he's also
the chief officer of the nonprofit Chemical Toxin Working Group.
Great discussion that we've had so far about the toxicity
in some of these things you may put into a
stocking or rap and put under the Christmas tree. I
guess that brings up the tree themselves. So people have
(43:03):
gone the artificial route with the Christmas trees over the
years just so they don't have to continue to buy
a fresh tree, because that can be an ordeal in
and of itself, you know, hauling the thing home, and
the prices are going up as far as that, but
they go to a good cause. Right, So are are
(43:24):
people's artificial trees perhaps tainted with some of these chemicals
as well?
Speaker 2 (43:32):
That's a great point. Yes, the artificial Christmas trees are
often made out of vinyl or polyvinyl chloride, and you know,
this is a great way to infiltrate your home with
more and more microplastics. You won't notice it, but all
that plastic from the tree will be shed into the
(43:53):
air you breathe and into the dust and you'll inhale
that dust. So you will inhale ton not literally tons,
let's just say, uh grands over a time of micro
and nanoplastics from your Christmas tree. So you know a
(44:14):
lot of folks, if they can, they do buy live trees.
They buy either cut trees or live trees to avoid
to avoid the polyviny chloride. So it would be a
great idea. And while you're at it, you know, all
those all those ornaments, all those ornaments that we put
(44:36):
on the trees are so likely to have like cadmium
and lead. So when you're shopping for ornaments, you should
definitely look for heavy metal free because because you know
they're they do, they will have just a lot of
(44:58):
lead on them. So you've got to be really careful.
Now you may have some family heirlooms from years past
that will have lead, and so if you're putting these up,
have your kids wash their hands when they're done, because
(45:19):
they will absorb lead from lead academium from these ornaments.
You can find ornaments that are heavy metal free too,
and you should look for these. You can, you know,
plug in on Google ornaments free of heavy metals and
you'll find certain brands that will be free from heavy metals.
Speaker 6 (45:43):
And I'm guessing that many of these ingredients that could
be harmful to our health are found in a variety
of products. So some of this information might be repetitive,
But say, also if you're hanging Christmas line lights, I
guess there's a possibility that some of those could be
(46:04):
hazardous to our health. It certainly hazardous to our health
when you're up there on a ladder trying to hang
these things from time to time. That's a common injury
during the Christmas season, people falling while hanging up Christmas lights.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah, yeah, obviously. And also the colored lights, as you
handle them, the paint will come off from the lights
that are colored because they're usually the paint is not
embedded into the glass, it's painted on, and so in
that case, you want to be careful. Also, you know,
(46:42):
as kids do get a little older, there's some other
really interesting gifts you can give them. I was thinking
about cell phones, for example, and one really great gift
for your kids would be to get them air ponds
or earphones that are free of electromagnetic frequency radiation because
(47:10):
and also there's a brand called body Well, and you
can buy a little stick on patch that goes on
the phone itself and it attracts the EMFs into that
rather than into your kids' bodies. And if you notice
the way kids carry their cell phones. You know, they'll
either put them in their side pocket or their back pocket,
(47:31):
and they are getting exposed to a lot of EMFs
when they carry their phones that way. So these are
kind of simple little gifts, but they really will make
your kids' lives healthier and your life easier because, as
I said, our bodies respond immediately to healthy influences.
Speaker 6 (47:51):
Yeah, so you've noticed an almost immediate change in your
life and and others as well, from once you're aware
that this is a problem, making the change and seeing
an immediate effect.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
In some cases, I.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Think if most if people are attuned to their bodies
and their health, they'll notice it right away. I mean,
just as an example, suppose one night for dinner, you know,
you eat some fast food burger or something like that,
and then another night you eat just say, sweet potatoes
(48:33):
with a little cinnamon, a really simple food. Now ask
your body, how do I feel after that burger versus
how do I feel after those yams or sweet potatoes.
It's gonna tell you I feel a lot better after
the and make them organic too, I feel a lot
better after that simpler food. Your body is telling you
(48:54):
right away. It will tell you the same thing with
the use of cosmetics personal care products, you would just
start to feel better almost immediately because your body is saying,
oh yeah, the messenger RNA is taking up these signals
from the environment and writing the instructions for how your
(49:16):
body should react to your genes, and then your DNA
is modified in a positive way. On the other hand,
if it's being exposed to toxic chemicals, your DNA will
be modified in a negative way, say to produce more
toxic estrogen if it's an endocrine disrupting chemical.
Speaker 6 (49:35):
I think we alluded to this earlier, but there's a
problem with these products not being labeled to appearance should
not rely on that. Then what red flags would you
say they should maybe look for just generally when buying
anything for their child.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
So the first thing, of course is Chinese imported toys.
That's the first red flag. The second red flag would
be flexible toys like rubber ducks or those made from
rubber or other plastics, because these could contain polyvinyl chloride
and thhalates. A third thing to look out for are
(50:17):
painted toys. Again for very young children. They put these
toys in their mouths and they will end up absorbing
some uh heavy metals. And then also for toys like dolls. Again,
these are the plastic toys. You know, if their skin
(50:41):
is uh, if they're if they're made out of vinyl,
these are these are gonna your kids are gonna absorb
some really toxic chemicals like thalates and polyvinyl chloride. You
can't really have uh flexible toys without that because the
valets softened the plastic.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
All right, this is a vital information tonight from David
Steinmann on into the paranormal.
Speaker 5 (51:07):
I'm Jeremy Scott, into the pair of normal.
Speaker 6 (51:30):
I'm Jeremy Scott, somewhere between the paranormal and the abnormal.
Speaker 5 (51:34):
You've already got a couple of gifts under our tree.
What about you?
Speaker 6 (51:38):
Tis the season we're going to be talking about some
of these safer alternatives, David. It is important that people
know that there are safer alternatives out there. Maybe those
alternatives could cost more, maybe they might not be as
readily available, Maybe you may have to look a little hard.
(52:00):
But give parents some options I think you already have,
but I mean, maybe a more exhaustive list here and.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
That I've checked out that are very safe, and I'll
kind of give you some stores where you can buy them.
Apple Park makes plush toys from one certified organic cotton
and they use toxin free dyes and they're stuffed with
corn fibers, so they're completely plastic free. That's Apple Park
(52:30):
and you can get them from Amazon or Nordstrum. Begin
Again makes rubber toys out of one natural rubber. They
also make puzzles out of wood and other kinds of
non toxic toys, and you can get these again at
Amazon or Target. One line that I really love for
(52:53):
zero to three year olds are wooden toys and Camden
Rose is a great source for wooden toys and teethers
that are made from either just plain wood, food grade
mineral oil and avoid plastics. If you want to get
your kids a painting kit, look at elsewhere Unplugged. It
(53:16):
used to be known as Eco Kids and they make
art supplies like modeling dough and earth paints that are
one free from chemical toxins. And again you can get
these at a a Bela Luna. And there's another brand
(53:38):
for toys like Tonka Toys, but these are safer and
made out of wood, and these are made in Germany.
It's called Fagas and they're made out of beech wood
and they're made without screws, nails, or staples. Really a
great company that's a fair wage company. They employ individuals
with disabilities, and you can buy them again on Amazon
(53:59):
and that's Vegas. There are just so many great options
for our kids and it just teaches, you know, it
just teaches them a little bit more about their world.
And these are very meaningful gifts. They will last longer too,
you know, And I think that's kind of an important
implicit message is we don't want to be a throwaway society.
(54:23):
We've kind of reached the apoge of throw awayism in
the society. And a lot of these toys, just like
the Fagas toys, they're meant to last. Gosh, they'll last
from your oldest child to your youngest child. They're great
hand me downs and when your kids are through with them,
you can give them away to other kids. These are
(54:44):
toys that are meant to last. And that's the kind
of society sustainable that we as parents want to create
for our kids.
Speaker 6 (54:52):
Part of it is knowing where to look if there
are not going to be the necessary what we would
consider necessary warning label on the product. Is there a database,
a list of resources that you would point us to
that we could keep up to date on the safety
of some of these products and also current recalls.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
Yeah, for for recalls, you should definitely go to the
Consumer Product Safety Commission and just plug in toy recalls.
For finding safe toys, there's the Healthy Stuff Labs. You
can google Healthy Stuff and they list a lot of
(55:36):
safe and toys and all their investigations. I would recommend
them as well. And there's UH in Washington State. Go
to Toxic Free Future. They are based in Washington State and
they have great resources on toys too.
Speaker 6 (55:57):
It's important that we're not buying these product that are
under recall and certainly giving them as gifts. But again
we may not always know and they may not be
taken off the shelves right away. That's another concern.
Speaker 2 (56:14):
Oh, toys can be on will be on the market. Well.
First of all, most of the recalls that we're dealing
with are for choking hazards and those you've just got
to be careful as a parent and watch your kids
when with their toys, and you be sensible, don't give
ways that they can you know that are too small
(56:36):
for their age that they can put in their mouth
and swallow. But it's much more rare to see toys
recall for toxic chemicals, not because the toxic chemicals aren't there,
but because either the levels that would initiate a recall
are so high that they allow allow a lot of
(56:56):
products to get to the market, or as I mentioned,
they're just missed because no one is doing enough testing
to cover all the products. So I always tell mom
and dad, you have to look out for your kids.
Number one, Uncle Sam is not going to be there
all the time to protect you.
Speaker 5 (57:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (57:17):
And what about the use of artificial intelligence in some
of these products that could be collecting data and could
pose a privacy concern. It seems like that's more of
a threat now than it ever used to be.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Yeah, I uh that that's and that's a whole new issue.
I would also be careful about letting your kids sign
up for things online if if those are that's involved.
You know, you have to be really you have to
(57:55):
watch your kids. And frankly, as a parent of three kids,
you know, I try to keep them into other things
just you know, just to kind of take you in
a little different direction. Another great kind of non toxic
Christmas gift is to buy your kids books and get
them to read again. And there are so many great
(58:18):
books what we call green literature for kids. There's Carol
Linstrom wrote We Are Water Protectors, Chabbies. Larkin wrote The
Thing about Bees a love letter. Mark Brown wrote, Arthur
turns green. I have a substat coming out on great
books for young kids that also educate them about the environment,
(58:41):
but they also will help to promote a longer attention
span and higher intelligence level, which I'm all in favor
of for our kids. So you know, books that you
hold in your hand are not going to ask them
for their passwords, IDs or anything else, and I think
(59:03):
that's really important.
Speaker 6 (59:05):
Absolutely, we will tell the audience how they can best
follow you on the internet and about where they can
find your book.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
Sure, you can find me at Instagram on David Steinman
Underslash author. You can find me at David William Steinman
dot com, my website, and I have a substack and
you can visit and subscribe to my David William Steinman's substack.
(59:38):
These are and then Twitter is by David Steinman. So yeah,
I look for I post all the time and I
Also I'm on YouTube. You can get me at David
Steinmann Underscore author and I will be doing some YouTube
videos on save Christmas toy shopping as well.
Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
Solutely best to you, David, appreciate you coming on the program.
Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Thanks Jeremy Merry Christmas have her honestness to everything as well.
Speaker 5 (01:00:07):
We'll be back. There's some toys to want to cross
off your shops this season. At first last, these toys
look like they could.
Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Be a great gift, but they're actually a danger to
your children.
Speaker 4 (01:00:20):
These are the toys consumer advocates say no children should
play with.
Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Many toys still have dangerous levels of toxic chemicals and
let this toy does not have the appropriate choking hazard
Ltble children die from similar products.
Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
I always have to think, is this safer? Into the
(01:00:59):
pair of norm
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