I know this doesn't have anything to do with saving money or paying down debt but it is pretty upsetting.
CNN reports that a new toy (from China) called Aqua Dots is covered in a date rape drug and that kids are falling into comas after swallowing the little beads that are part of the craft kit.
This was one item on my daughter's Christmas List that I will not be purchasing. I am going home tonight and throwing out every stinking toy we have that was made in China. I think it is going to be a whole different kind of Christmas at our house this year. I refuse to buy any toy made in China and that is going to limit the selection somewhat.
How do you explain to a 2 and 7 year old that their toys might kill them?! What in the world is going on?!!!
Here is the link to the article if you are interested.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/toy.recall/index.html
What is going on with TOYS?
November 8th, 2007 at 08:41 am
November 8th, 2007 at 09:03 am
I am not afraid to give my kids 'used' toys from the thrift store. Our local ones have such amazing, hardly used stuff anyway! Especially stuffed animals (I wash in extra hot first), and board games, puzzles and books (I also wipe with disinfectant first).
There are LOADS of inexpensive, handmade toys and gifts from home crafters on Etsy
November 8th, 2007 at 09:11 am
I have to say I Am not surprised in the least. Ever since we have had children (oldest is 4) I have been absolutely AMAZED at how cheap toys are these days. I think it really comes to the old adage, you get what you pay for. Americans want cheap crap, they get cheap crap. Sad, but true.
In these instances I am glad our kids don't have millions of toys like all their friends seem to have. But certainly doesn't make us immune. IT's scary. It's even sadder that Americans are supporting these laborers in other countries who are exposed to all these dangerous plastics and paints. I'd probably be pretty happy to boycott new toys. We don't really buy them often anyway.
Of course reading this report will make you think twice of buying anything. Very eye opening:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7239727
November 8th, 2007 at 09:11 am
November 8th, 2007 at 09:16 am
November 8th, 2007 at 09:28 am
November 8th, 2007 at 09:29 am
November 8th, 2007 at 10:06 am
November 8th, 2007 at 10:26 am
be safe
November 8th, 2007 at 10:27 am
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html
It's just a scary thought that you give your kids something you think will make them happy and they can get seriously injured or die from it. I understand kids can get hurt in car accidents, or any type of accident for that matter, but I think that is totally unrelated to this. Accidents are just that, accidents. I don't believe it is an accident that so many toys have lead paint on them or a dangerous drug. We have a choice about these toys and for me the choice is going to be to look very hard for toys not made in China. Another way to look at it is to support the US economy and only buy toys made in the USA~anyone know of any?!
November 8th, 2007 at 11:26 am
November 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am
November 8th, 2007 at 11:33 am
November 8th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
November 8th, 2007 at 04:21 pm
Way back when I was about ten years old --oh, about 38 years ago-- I saved Campbell's soup labels and sent them in with something like 50 cents to get a Campbell's soup bowl with the 3 little chubby Campbell's kids, customized with my little sister's name on it. I was so proud of myself for staying focused on the collecting, taping down those quarters to the bottom of a hand written letter that began "Dear Sir," and conducting my first piece of business by mail. I thought a bowl like that was so special and I was probably more happy to give it to my sister than she was to get it. But she was 6 and did love the bowl. She used it all the time for soup, spaghetti, breakfast cereal, ice cream, applesauce --if a food needed a bowl, my baby sis used that bowl.
Then some months later, I got in the mail a recall letter! Turned out the bowl had a lead glaze. Mom told us to put away the bowl as a keepsake, and told us not to worry, that very little acidic food had been eaten from the bowl, so little lead would have leached out. I felt so sad that what I thought was so special for my sister turned out to be potentially dangerous and that she could not use it any more.
Do kids now have so many toys that they do not even notice if a particular one disappears when their grown-ups find out there is a problem with it?
November 9th, 2007 at 09:12 am
Sigh, unfortunately in many houses yes...I have heard parents tell me they go thru while the kids are asleep or out of the house and take broken or little used toys to give away, and the kids never notice...I am all for giving away but I do it with the full knowledge of my children.
I have also been in many houses where a particular toy is remembered but cannot be found in the huge pile of toys....
Not to mention the attitude of many children when a toy breaks..toss it and get another...or when threatened with loss of a toy if not cleaned up, so there are 100 other toys in easy reach (and thousands stuffed under chairs beds and couches...)
Not to mention my least favorite line "It's ok if I break it, Grandma will just buy me a new one".....
November 9th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I just wrote them a letter listing ID#'s for toys that I have bought for my 10 month old grand-daughter.
One mother said it was so heart-breaking when she had to get rid of some of her children's favorite toys.
Believe me, every baby and toddler puts toys or anything for that matter in their mouths.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
The spray that you use to seal the beads together once you make the design you want, if ingested into the stomach the body changes the makeup of the spray to form GHB and is responsible for many deaths. apparently the drug was sold for some time in health stores as a performance inhancer (woohoo!) anyway basically the drug is very dangerous and can kill or put people into comas. very scary stuff indeed. a lot of people i know are very angry at the media for reporting it and describing it like this: "drug called GHB, also known as Liquid Ecstacy..." etc etc. anywho, the fact is, yes, it is known as liquid ecstacy, but VERY dangerous and they probably should not have reported it like that, now there are going to be a million teenagers going through their little sisters toys and eating the beads and spray! its terrible. no doubt we are going to see a lot more injuries with these things...