Background
In 2007, a series of product recalls of toys and children’s jewelry raised public concern about the safety of children’s products sold in the United States and Europe. Unfortunately, existing safety standards have not guaranteed that toys and children’s products are free of these hazards. Children are especially vulnerable to toxic chemicals because of their small size and rapidly developing bodies.
Nationally and internationally, there are many organizations working to protect the environmental health of children. Some groups are conducting basic research on exposure and risk from hazardous chemicals and others are testing toys and children’s products to identify hazards and inform consumers. With this increased awareness, there is a rapidly growing need to identify alternatives to the chemicals and materials of concern that are currently in use in children’s products. In order to promote the use of alternatives and to find long-term, robust solutions we believe that there is a need for research, information-sharing and a dialogue among stakeholders, including industry, children’s environmental health advocates, academia and government on how to create sustainable children’s products.
In 2007 the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and GreenBlue began a collaborative effort with a group of stakeholders throughout the toy industry supply chain, including manufacturers, retailers, and designers, and representatives from citizen advocacy groups, government, and academia. In December 2007 we convened a planning meeting of these stakeholders, including Mattel, Hasbro, Wal-Mart, several small toy manufacturers, toy designers, US EPA, and representatives of citizen advocacy groups including Consumers Union and Clean Production Action. The objective of this meeting was to assess the need for this initiative with these stakeholders and if there was interest, to work together to design and plan this new program. There was widespread consensus among attendees that there is a real need for this effort, and as a result of this meeting a work group formed to move this initiative forward.
During 2008, this work group met on a monthly basis via conference call. Participants in the monthly work group meetings included Mattel, Hasbro, Wal-Mart, Target, Fashion Angels, the Toy Industry Association, Clean Production Action, the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health, and GreenBlue. The work group meetings proved very valuable for exchanging information on a variety of topics including state legislative initiatives, plastics recycling, phase out of Ni-Cad batteries in toys, decision tools for assessing environmentally preferable alternatives, and implementation of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
