ACTION ALERT
Our Kids Deserve Safer Toys!
The U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives both passed a bill to improve the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Senate version includes a ban on phthalates. The House version does not. The House and Senate will need to negotiate whether to include the ban or not in the final bill, which will be signed into law by President Bush.
Contact Darlene Hooley and Gordon Smith and urge them support the Senate version of the Consumer Product Safety Commission bill, which bans phthalates in children's toys and children's products.
Click here for a sample letter.
Call, email, or fax your representative at:
Darlene Hooley, (D - OR)
2430 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC, 20515
Phone: 202.225.5711
Fax: 202.225.5699
Email via Webform
Gordon Smith (R - OR)
404 Russell Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.3753
Fax: 202.228.3997
Email via Webform
Background on Phthalates (pronounced "THA-lates"): Phthalates are synthetic chemicals found in everyday products, including plastic toys and children’s products. They are used to make plastic soft. Unfortunately, these chemicals don’t stay in the products -- instead, they migrate into the air, into food, or into people, including babies in their mother’s wombs.
Boys exposed to phthalates are likely to have smaller genitals and incomplete descent of the testicles.
Undescended testicles have been linked to testicular cancer.
Phthalates are believed to also affect girls’ hormones, but the health impact is unknown.
The European Union and 14 other countries have already banned these chemicals from children's toys.
In 2007, California enacted a ban on the manufacture, sale or distribution of children's toys and child care articles that contain phthalates.
Approximately a dozen states have introduced - or are considering legislation - to ban phthalates in toys and other consumer products.
