Millions of Poisonous Toys – What Does This Teach Us?

My apologies right up front for back-to-back negative stories. But you can hardly have missed the headlines on toys being recalled: the lead paint on Dora dolls from China; the tiny yet powerful magnets in Magnetix that end up in kids’ tummies and cause internal injuries and death; and hundreds of other toys for young children. There is plenty of blame to go around, and we consumers need to ask ourselves why so many of the things we buy are manufactured in ways that put our children at risk. It is great that we can buy so many fun things for $2-$3. But there are at least two downsides to continuing to demand ever cheaper products: 1) The cheapest forms of manufacturing will always be the ones that prize efficiency over safety, and 2) if we reduce all of our playthings to inexpensive trinket level, are we training kids to be “disposable” consumers?

The Blue Lake take on it:
Unfortunately, it is that scary. Watch this video about Magnetix danger and death that was produced for The Chicago Tribune. If you haven’t already done so, check out the somewhat overwhelming U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s summary of recalled toys and Mattel’s list of Fisher Price Recalled Lead Painted Toys (with very helpful photos). We are just starting to think about manufacturing our magazines overseas – and these events make us realize how lucky we are that our local printer is a family-owned business that enthusiastically sources soy-based inks, water-based coatings and FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) paper to meet our standards for The Tessy & Tab Reading Club. If and when we add new printers to our roster, we need to have the best references and reliable QA checkpoints. We understand that parents want the best deal for their purchases, and the $48 for 24 issues is not cheap. On the other hand, we don’t want to cut costs to get down to $35 if it means that the natural behavior of a 2-year-old (“Now I think I will put my magazine in my mouth!) becomes a threat to their health.