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Post by proletariat on Dec 24, 2007 7:28:00 GMT -6
Public Citizen recently came out with a report on Santa's Sweatshops. I found the report well worth reading and highlighted the deliberate as opposed to the simply byproduct consequences of anti-fair trade legislation. I was even motivated to post a little rant on the report this Christmas Eve. www.citizen.org/documents/Santas%20Sweatshop.pdf
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Dec 24, 2007 20:38:10 GMT -6
Proletariat, Thanks for the link. It provides some good information, in addition to some links to other sites that might be useful. One such site is Healthy ToysBelow is the Introduction to their site. " Toys can contain a variety of chemicals of concern. The materials used in toys like plastics, paints, and fabrics are made up of chemicals, and may also contain added chemicals to impart specific properties such as rigidity, durability, flexibility or flame resistance.
When children put these products into their mouths, some of these chemicals may enter their bodies through contact with saliva. Some of the substances, which are not always chemically bound to the products, may also be released directly into the air that children breathe or cause exposure through house dust. However, the detection of a chemical in a product does not necessarily mean there is exposure. Because children's bodies are growing and developing, they are more vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals. Even small amounts of a chemical can impact a child's ability to reach his or her full potential. Children are exposed to toxic chemicals from many sources in addition to toys, and the combination of these many exposures may cause harm.
While there are a number of chemicals of concern that have been found in children's products, HealthyToys.org focused on a subset of chemicals that could be detected by the XRF technology: lead, cadmium, chlorine, arsenic and mercury. HealthyToys.org also contains information on children's products that contain chromium, tin, antimony and bromine.
HealthyToys.org selected these elements and related or associated chemical compounds because they have been identified by many regulatory agencies as problematic chemicals and because of their toxicity or suspected toxicity, persistence, and/or their tendency to build up in people and the environment. These chemicals have also been linked in animal and sometimes human studies to long-term health impacts such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer. They were also chosen because these chemicals, or their elemental building blocks, have been subject to either regulatory restrictions or voluntary limits set by industry associations or third party environmental certification organizations. Each of these chemicals also represents potential exposure to workers during the manufacture of products containing them.
The rapid screening technology used for HealthyToys.org cannot identify the presence and concentration of every chemical of concern.
HealthyToys.org ratings do not provide a measure of health risk or chemical exposure associated with any individual toy or children's product, or any individual element or related chemical. HealthyToys.org ratings only provide a relative measure of high, medium, and low concentrations of several hazardous chemicals or chemical elements in a toy or children's product in comparison to criteria established in the site methodology.
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