How many times has this happened to you this year? You're out shopping for toys for your kids, and you pick one up and look at it. You look at the packaging, the label. Has this one been recalled? There have been so many, they all look the same/sound the same. Damn. You wish you brought that list with you that you printed out of all the toys that were recalled, but nope, you don't have it. What to do?
What if you could text a message and receive up-to-date information on hundreds of toys to see if the one in your hand is safe to bring home or not?
I was in Target yesterday, marveling at the toy aisles, a veritable sea of noise-making plastic! And tons of things had that "Made in China" label. Urgh. I so would have used this new service from HealthyToys.org, had I known about it.
Fortunately, MomsRising emailed me and a bunch of other people about this earlier today. Here's what you do:
Text "healthytoys
[high/med/low] [toy name]" to 41411 -- to limit your search results to
only those toys with a high, med, or low toxins rating -- e.g.
"healthytoys low slinky" will only return the Slinky that got a "low
toxins" test rating by HealthyToys.org.
Text
"healthytoys [retailer]" to 41411 -- to search for toys sold by a
particular retailer -- e.g. "healthytoys low costco" will return the
toys sold at Costco that got a "low toxins" test rating by
HealthyToys.org.
Text
"healthytoys [search term]" to 41411 -- to search for toys with that
term in their name, description, brand, or retailer. In other words,
you can search not only for a toy name but also for Costco, or Leap
Frog, or bracelet, or fuzzy, or rattle, or Spider-man, or Disney -- and
any toys with those words anywhere in their listing will be returned.
Too
many results? Try typing the name of the toy just as it is printed on
the packaging -- e.g. "healthytoys Disney Royal Shoes Set".Don't want to text? You can check out HealthyToys.org online; lists are there for your perusal. And while you're there, check out the "worst toys" list. Oh, and happy shopping.
Photo: marshallfieldclinic.org
