Guest blogger Katie Rojas-Jahn is the program assistant for the Food and Health program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and for the Healthy Legacy Coalition.

With so many products available to consumers today, how do we know that what we’re buying is safe? Most of us assume that products have been tested by someone, somewhere along the way, to make sure they won’t cause us harm.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for many of the consumer products on the shelf today. 

The reason is that most chemicals used in consumer goods don’t have to be tested for their safety and the federal government is often unwilling or unable to take action to prevent harm before it happens.

The 2008 legislative session provided an important opportunity to address product safety at the Minnesota Legislature. More than two-thirds of the legislature supported a bill that would have made homes across the state a little bit safer.

But as it turns out, eliminating toxic chemicals from consumer products was not a high priority on the list for Governor Tim Pawlenty, who, despite strong bi-partisan support, vetoed the bill once it reached his desk.

The Public Health Omnibus bill (SF651) contained two provisions important to protecting children’s health. The bill would have phased out phthalates, a hormone-disrupting chemical contained in PVC plastic and countless other children’s products: rubber duckies, vinyl bibs, teething rings, and more. The second provision would have eliminated a toxic flame retardant, known as “deca,” from home electronics, mattresses, and textiles.

Both of these chemicals can be harmful to health, especially to children.

Phthalates are known hormone disrupters and have been linked to adverse health effects, including reproductive problems, the early onset of puberty in girls, and disruption to the male reproductive tract.

Deca is a developmental neurotoxin that is chemically similar to another group of harmful chemicals banned in the 1970s: PCBs. Exposure to deca in low doses has been linked to brain, liver and thyroid damage as well as hormone disruption.

Who would have thought that phasing out chemicals that can cause adverse effects would be such a challenge? Representatives from the American Chemistry Council, the Toy Industry Association, and the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum — all representing large chemical and manufacturing companies — were a continuous presence at hearings for the Minnesota bill to make sure that it was.

In fact, the opposition lobby was so strong that the bill’s phthalates phase-out originally included the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), another hormone disruptor found in baby bottles and sippy cups.  Despite overwhelming public support, BPA was later stricken from the bill in hopes of making it more palatable for the Governor Pawlenty.

The chemical industry took on the same tactics as the tobacco companies did in the 1990s: they created a sense of “manufactured uncertainty” around the science. In other words, they made their own science, didn’t have it reviewed by other scientists, and guess what? Their science shows no health effects from exposure to these chemicals.

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by Tiffany, Nature Moms Blog

Childhood obesity is at an all time high and kids are killing each other over the newest technical gadget or fashion craze. Are these the after effects of too much commercialism? TV is encouraging a sedentary lifestyle that is seeing our kids developing habits that foster obesity.

Not only are TV programs monopolizing our children’s attention and imagination (or what’s left of it) but the commercials are too. Even if a child eventually loses interest in a program he’s watching the commercials keep him glued with boisterous messages and music promoting products and an image of what is hip or cool today.

Commercialism is everywhere making it very hard for parents to control. Visit your nearest theater and you are bombarded by commercials for the first 20 minutes of the show. Large companies “buy” placement in the movies and television shows to make their products look cool. I suspect cigarette companies do this. Commercialism is also in our schools and in “sponsored” educational materials sometimes given to our kids. I recently read about one school system that had McDonald’s coupons on the report cards. But what if you don’t want your children to accept blindly that these institutions and products are beneficial to us? How do we keep these values from infiltrating our households?

While this may seem monumental parents can play a significant and role in keeping commercialism at bay for their kids. Here are some ideas:

Teach by example. If you resist consumerism you will be able to teach with conviction to your kids the merits of resisting consumerism.

Sew your kids clothing and teach them to sew as well. This eliminates the logos and brands issues associated with store bought clothes and it teaches kids a valuable craft. Kids might also find they have a talent for designing. At 16 years old I remember making myself a vintage gown from a 1940s war era pattern. It is gorgeous and people raved over it…there was nothing like it available at stores and I LOVED that. Don’t sew? Take classes…at your local fabric store….its never too late. Your kids could also take classes.

Try turning off the TV for a week. Then try 2 weeks. Then have a discussion about the merits of having a TV when quality news and entertainment can be obtained elsewhere. I follow and unschooling philosophy as far as TV and movies go. I don’t have restrictions or limits but yet we don’t watch that much TV…the key is to provide alternatives that are vastly more fun and entertaining. Try this TV Free Family site for ideas.

Expose kids to other media – like art/surrealist films, art exhibits, public lectures on topics that might interest them. We are BIG on art in my house. We have all the supplies I could need for just about any project. This week my oldest painted a half dozen beautiful landscapes, he made several 3-D pictures, a Mardi Gras style mask for me, and a Pinata for his Dad for father’s day. All I did was supply him with the means. I have had to cover his bedroom floor in cheap scrap carpets because the paint gets EVERYWHERE!

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by Cindy Droog
Reprinted with permission.

A close friend of mine, Tony, who is unmarried, doesn’t have children and lives in an apartment the approximate size of our son’s nursery, came to visit us from New York City a few weeks ago. Our house has changed slightly since his last visit two years ago.

Back then, you could walk through the living room. Today, it’s much more exciting. You can actually skateboard through it by hitting – at just the right angle – an open storybook and sliding to the back door. It’s a quicker trip that way. Not to mention, my balance has improved immensely.

Then, we had a fully stocked bar in the kitchen. Within arm’s reach, we had my favorite Pinot Noir, my husband’s Jack Daniels and ingredients for the perfect 007 martini. And on the bottom shelf, hand-painted cocktail glasses I’d picked up at a market outside Monterrey, Mexico on a business trip.

That cabinet – open shelving and all – now lives in our bathroom, serving as the perfect home for girly and manly shaving creams, living together in harmony. It had no business being in the kitchen anymore, unless we’d planned to stock it with animal crackers. Which by the way, are way too crumbly to use as a substitute for a lime slice in a margarita.

I did have a Sam Adams on hand to offer Tony that day. Of course, I neglected to tell him it had been in the fridge since October.

These changes at my house had been the obvious ones. In fact, my husband and I discuss the pending reopening of our bar – in 18 years – on a regular basis. But Tony made another observation, one that we, frankly, had not noticed.

My son’s coloring book? Handy Manny. His storybooks strewn across the floor? Thomas the Train and Elmo. His current favorite thing to carry around? A Mr. Incredible doll. The crackers he was munching on that day? Scooby snacks.

In completely innocent fashion, Tony said, “Wow! Everything they make for kids today is so commercialized. They must choose the shows they put on TV solely on their marketability as toys.”

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Nicole Green, a marketing student at the University of Cincinnati, has graciously allowed me to reprint an opinion piece she wrote for The News Record.

An old boss of mine shared with me an anecdote about her young nephew. The boy had overheard his parents arguing over finances, and naturally he wanted them to stop. He opened the door to the room in which they were arguing and profoundly stated he had the answer to their problems: debt consolidation.

Be not fooled; this boy was no seven-year old financial prodigy. His knowledge was derived solely from a thirty second commercial that probably interrupted his after- school cartoons.

I wondered about the way this commercial had stuck in the memory of the child. He may not have known what debt consolidation was, but he knew that whatever it was, it fixed money problems.

I was reminded of this story when I read about “pester power.” The term is used to describe the ways marketers endorse their products through the relentless way children nag their parents for goods. Not only do marketers recognize this behavior in children, they target and thrive from it. The goal is to appeal to a child so intensely that a child will whine and beg to receive a certain product.

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Marketing consultant MC Milker blogs at The Not Quite Crunchy Parent. Before blogging, and before becoming not quite crunchy, she spent 20 years in the corporate world, marketing products like toys, food, and school supplies to kids and parents.

She reports here on the Consumer Electronics Show. Also see The Sandbox Summit - A Not-Quite-Crunchy Look at a Major Trade Show Event, D is for Digital – A Report from the Sandbox, and Toys in the Sandbox – New Digital Toys at CES. 

D is for Digital, a report released at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, confirms parents’ worst fears about video games marketed as educational. The study by the respected Joan Ganz Cooney Center found less than 3 percent of the games studied were based on educational curriculum.

Educational toys (including video games) is a $1.1 billion segment of the $22 billion toy industry and the fastest growing one, according to Playthings magazine.

Sadly, it is an unregulated one. Manufacturers must abide by “truth in advertising” laws but as no standards exist for educational claims and those made by electronic toy manufacturer remain largely unsubstantiated. 

Though some companies such as LeapFrog, Hooked On Phonics and Knowledge Adventure do devote sections of their Web sites to describing research and impact studies, such research is not widely available or documented.

And the voice of reason is often drowned out. Though child development experts and prestigious organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend no screen time for children under two, the infant and preschool market for electronics has exploded in the past few years. Despite an alarming rate of attention issues noted by teachers and rising childhood obesity, American children still sit in front of a screen, TV, computer, and increasingly the myriad of handhelds and game consoles, an average of 5 hours per day — well more than the amount recommended by experts.

And still the category of products keeps growing.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Foundation recognizes that parents have no way of knowing whether or not a game or toy marketed as “educational’ really is:

Without firm and independently verified standards of educational value, how is a typical parent or educator able to discern if the multitude of products in the marketplace live up to their claims?

And has these recommendations:

Federal regulatory bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission, voluntary industry groups such as The Better Business Bureau, and parent advocates such as Common Sense Media should collaborate on a consumer protection initiative to better describe educational effectiveness in interactive media products for children.

Until then — caveat emptor.

More from other attendees at the Sandbox Summit:

The Daily Mom
YPulse
Media Minds