Are our toys safe?

D_Rosalind Mussell

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While surfing the net I found a link to this article about phthalates. While doing a bit more research I found that this chemical is commonly found in sex toys (children's toys as well), which can leach into our orifices and mimic estrogen. Considering it's affect on development in baby boys (couldn't find anything about girls) it makes me wonder how safe our sex toys really are. As someone who just had a hysterectomy due to cancerous tumor that was fueled by an excess of estrogen, this concerns me greatly. Does anyone have any information regarding sex toy safety? I am ready to replace what I have but I want to be sure that I am buying ones that are made with safe materials.
 

D_Rosalind Mussell

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I knew phthalates weren't good for you, but I didn't know they mimicked estrogen.

A quick google search turned up this online store. It may be the place to shop if you're worried about toy safety.

Buy Phthalate-free Sex Toys

Thanks so much!

This is something that concerns me because my gynecologist will not put me on hormone replacement therapy because excess estrogen is what fueled the cancer to begin with. (Can you say run-on sentence? lol) I probably sound a bit like a worried mom, but I think information like this is essential and I wanted to make sure you ladies knew about this. :redface:
 

petite

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It's extremely serious. As usual, the US is behind Europe on enacting bans on it. It's a suspected cause of autism, there's a link to testicular tumors in children under the age of 12, and with abnormal genital development in the womb.

I haven't worn almost any makeup, lotion, perfume, soap, cleansers or any else that hasn't been tested and confirmed to be free from phthalates since June or July. It's in almost all air fresheners in massive amounts, Febreeze, household cleaners, and other products that are supposed to cover smells, which is a bigger issue to me than it's presence in sex toys, since almost everyone uses some sort of product that scents the air and you can't even shop without smelling some sort of artificial fragrance. And I've been extra-careful to buy "fragrance free" everything as much as possible when I'm not buying organic products. It's also a common ingredient in nail polish, hair products, and other salon products. It's becoming usual to see signs in salons that read "We only use phthalate free nail polish" (my favorite pedicure place has this sign).

Phthalates are the most common in jelly toys, the cheap ones I love for anal penetration. Now I only buy jelly toys labeled "phthalate free" or I use a condom with them.
 
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Ed69

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While surfing the net I found a link to this article about phthalates. While doing a bit more research I found that this chemical is commonly found in sex toys (children's toys as well), which can leach into our orifices and mimic estrogen. Considering it's affect on development in baby boys (couldn't find anything about girls) it makes me wonder how safe our sex toys really are. As someone who just had a hysterectomy due to cancerous tumor that was fueled by an excess of estrogen, this concerns me greatly. Does anyone have any information regarding sex toy safety? I am ready to replace what I have but I want to be sure that I am buying ones that are made with safe materials.[/QUOTE]

Wood,glass and metal will be your best bet for safe materials.Just do a google search on sex toys with those materials.They won't be soft you need a man for that.It just boils down to how much your willing to risk to masturbate.I don't use the jelly soft toys for this reason.
 

AlteredEgo

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Yeah, but there are soft materials that are safe as well. Have you ever inserted wood, glass, or metal into yourself, ed69?

Petite I had no idea! I knew about the nail polish from a post here(you posted about nail polish before, I think) but I had no clue it was so serious, or so pervasive.
 

petite

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Oh, yes! I wish that we had planned this pregnancy because I would have been careful to rid my house of phthalates for at least 6 months before getting pregnant, but I've been doing my best to keep my boy safe. I've had so many friends bear children who have autism, that it's one of the things that I'm very paranoid about. We have seen him on the ultrasound appearing to smile a few times. I even have a photo, but there's that doubt that maybe he was just making a face.

Our Stolen Future: CDC finds extensive phthalate contamination in Americans

"They found widespread exposure at troubling levels. Most problematic, the subgroup with the highest level of exposure was women of child-bearing age, just the people public health efforts should keep out of the path of reproductive toxicants."

Phthalates: Are They Safe? - 60 Minutes - CBS News

"Swan told "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl she found that the higher the level of phthalates in the mother's urine during pregnancy, the greater the problems occurred in young boys.

Asked what she found in babies, Swan said, "We found that the baby boys were in several subtle ways less completely masculine."

Dr. Howard Snyder, a pediatric urologist at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, says Swan's findings line up with what he's seeing in newborn baby boys: an alarming increase in deformed sex organs. "

phthalates | Healthy Child Healthy World

"Birth defects, including cleft palate and in male reproductive organs, due to prenatal exposure. In laboratory animals, exposure to some phthalates prior to or after birth caused damaged, shrunken, undescended, or atrophied testicles; reduced sperm production; destruction of Sertoli cells, which produce sperm; and lowered testosterone levels in offspring. In humans, some studies have found decreased sperm counts and damaged sperm in men with higher levels of some phthalates. There is also evidence phthalate exposure may be linked to preterm births.
DEHP causes liver cancer in laboratory animals and is considered a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. EPA and the National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The EPA also considers butyl benzyl phthalate a possible human carcinogen. However, the World Health Organization considers the two phthalates to be “not classifiable” as to their carcinogenicity to humans.
Harm to normal development. An expert panel has expressed �serious concern� for the possibility of harm to the developing reproductive system in infant boys exposed to high levels of DEHP that may occur with intensive medical procedures, such as those used for critically ill infants. The panel also expressed �concern� about exposure of pregnant women and the possibility of harm to the development of their children.
At high doses, some phthalates have damaged the liver and kidneys of laboratory animals.
Respiratory difficulties in children with bronchial obstruction (such as asthma).
In a September 2000 study, Puerto Rican researchers reported that phthalates had been detected in baby girls, aged 6 months to eight years, with premature breast development. The average levels of DEHP was six times greater in the early developers than in babies who had not experienced premature breast development."
 

B_subgirrl

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Thanks so much!

This is something that concerns me because my gynecologist will not put me on hormone replacement therapy because excess estrogen is what fueled the cancer to begin with. (Can you say run-on sentence? lol) I probably sound a bit like a worried mom, but I think information like this is essential and I wanted to make sure you ladies knew about this. :redface:

It sounds like it would be important for me too, as the estrogen in contraceptives and HRT increases the risk of blood clots.
 

B_curiousme01

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I discovered just a while while back that all toys are not made alike. I read about it here in a thread. Unfortunately, we already had quite a few by that time and do not have the packaging to know what they are made of. Really good thread.
 

paigexox

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Is this the same stuff that's in a lot of plastic containers used for food and water? I remember hearing or reading something a while back about how drinking water from a simple plastic bottle could potentially cause birth defects.

Seems like everything is bad for us anymore. :frown1:
 

petite

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Is this the same stuff that's in a lot of plastic containers used for food and water? I remember hearing or reading something a while back about how drinking water from a simple plastic bottle could potentially cause birth defects.

Seems like everything is bad for us anymore. :frown1:

It really does seem like everything is bad for us now! I was washing dishes and it dawned on me how strongly scented my dishwashing liquid was and I wondered if I was hurting my baby. I switched to Dr. Bronner's Sal-Suds and that's what I'm using to clean my house now, scented only with essential oils.

Phthalates are found in a lot of plastics, especially PVC, but it's far more pervasive in perfumes and artificial scents, and everything nowadays is scented artificially: air/room fresheners (glade, febreeze, etc), soaps, cosmetics/perfumes, lotions, hair products, cleaning supplies, etc. You can't go anywhere or use practically any product without smelling something artificial. There are arguments that the level is fairly low in most products, but the problem is that once you count up how many different products contain phthalates surround you every single day, it dawns on you that constant low level leads to a build up of phthalates in your body. Women have more phthalates in them because we use a lot of highly scented products like makeup, face cream, perfume, hair products, deoderant, skin lotion, spa products, masks, etc.

Since I found out I was pregnant, the only "perfumes" I've worn have been organic essential oils and rosewater. They don't have the staying power of perfume, but it won't give my baby boy testicular tumors either!

Here's a good resource that has tested a lot of cosmetics for safety:
Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Reviews

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics*:*Index

The water bottle chemical is Bisphenol A or BPA, and it also mimics hormones and is bad for you, but it can be avoided more easily since you can just choose to use glass or ceramic to drink out of and microwave your food.
 
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Ed69

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Yeah, but there are soft materials that are safe as well. Have you ever inserted wood, glass, or metal into yourself, ed69?

Petite I had no idea! I knew about the nail polish from a post here(you posted about nail polish before, I think) but I had no clue it was so serious, or so pervasive.

Yes,my favorite toy is a stainles steel prostate toy.So you need soft toys not all of us do.
 
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AlteredEgo

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Yes,my favorite toy is a stainles steel prostate toy.So you need soft toys not all of us do.
Well you like hard toys. Whoop de fucking doo. That doesn't mean you should come in here spouting false information like it's fact. I can't use hard toys. Can't. You claim the only safe way to get any softness if from a live man, and that's a lie! Should be counter-intuitive, since it is most certainly counter-productive! Here someone has been kind enough to start a thread shedding light, disseminating important factual information, and you stumble in talking out of your numb prostate like you know something helpful. Check your facts before you hit reply. That's all I'm saying.

Check out the first two entries.
Vibrator
Dildo