Take a Stand

(cross posted on family blog)
We try to have toys that are from reputable sources. We avoid products manufactured in China, if we cannot determine the company's standards and policies. We tend to buy from small companies that offer natural products (e.g. Bamboletta dolls, Nova Naturals, North Star Toys, Willow Toys, etc). We have given away/thrown away toys that come from disreputable sources.

thus we were pleased when it became a national issue and Congress wanted to help protect children. However, we feel that the current legislation passed in August 2008 and taking effect in February 2009 will hamper our ability to choose the toys we want. It will especially affect small artisans and handmade products. If you are not familiar with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, please take a minute to read about it. It will require everyone to test. On the surface this appears to be a sound decision, however it will drive independent toy makers and artisans out of business due to excessive cost.

Please visit Help Save Handmade for yourself and contact your Representatives and Senators if you feel as we do.

Help Save Handmade

We try to have toys that are from reputable sources. We avoid products manufactured in China, if we cannot determine the company's standards and policies. We tend to buy from small companies that offer natural products (e.g. Bamboletta dolls, Nova Naturals, North Star Toys, Willow Toys, etc). We have given away/thrown away toys that come from disreputable sources.

thus we were pleased when it became a national issue and Congress wanted to help protect children. However, we feel that the current legislation passed in August 2008 and taking effect in February 2009 will hamper our ability to choose the toys we want. It will especially affect small artisans and handmade products. If you are not familiar with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, please take a minute to read about it. It will require everyone to test. On the surface this appears to be a sound decision, however it will drive independent toy makers and artisans out of business due to excessive cost.

Please visit Help Save Handmade for yourself and contact your Representatives and Senators if you feel as we do.

50/50

Overheard while Eamon and Aine were flipping coins:

E: I pick heads. You are toes.

Leisure Reading

Safe Mom

Big Fish

Eamon caught this big bass while fishing with Daddy and Matt.

Quick Soapbox

This is why we don't want or have plastic toys, sippy cups, plates, cups, etc.

http://www.oregontoxics.org/plastics1.html

Children are more vulnerable to toxic harm than adults because they are smaller, consume more air, food, and water for each pound of body weight than adults, and they put more things into their mouths.

Accordingly, children are more susceptible to damage from environmental threats because their bodies, brains, organs, and central nervous system are undergoing extensive growth and development throughout infancy and early childhood.

NEW RESEARCH on Children’s Exposure from Toxics in the Environmental

Exposure to toxics can cause irreparable damage to a child’s health and cognitive abilities. New research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that chemicals in the environment are implicated in asthma, acute bronchitis and upper-respiratory infections, cancer, mental retardation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Scientific conclusions about what might be a “safe” threshold of exposure have been continuously revised downward. What ten years ago was considered a “safe” level of mercury for human consumption is now known to be a harmful level. Lead and asbestos, once commonly used and promoted as safe, have proven to be harmful at any level of exposure.

REDUCING TOXICS IN YOUR HOME SHOULD BE A GOAL.

This is why

we don't want or have plastic toys, sippy cups, plates, cups, etc.

http://www.oregontoxics.org/plastics1.html

Children are more vulnerable to toxic harm than adults because they are smaller, consume more air, food, and water for each pound of body weight than adults, and they put more things into their mouths.

Accordingly, children are more susceptible to damage from environmental threats because their bodies, brains, organs, and central nervous system are undergoing extensive growth and development throughout infancy and early childhood.

NEW RESEARCH on Children’s Exposure from Toxics in the Environmental

Exposure to toxics can cause irreparable damage to a child’s health and cognitive abilities. New research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that chemicals in the environment are implicated in asthma, acute bronchitis and upper-respiratory infections, cancer, mental retardation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Scientific conclusions about what might be a “safe” threshold of exposure have been continuously revised downward. What ten years ago was considered a “safe” level of mercury for human consumption is now known to be a harmful level. Lead and asbestos, once commonly used and promoted as safe, have proven to be harmful at any level of exposure.

REDUCING TOXICS IN YOUR HOME SHOULD BE A GOAL.

Home Cooked Meals

A: Home is just plain. (Stated while lobbying for a meal at any restaurant in the TJ's plaza):