By Dr. Mercola
You likely give careful consideration to your child’s nutrition, safety and schooling. But, did you know the simple plastic toys they play with each day may pose a danger to their health and wellness?
Unfortunately, the chemicals found in your child’s toys may also inhabit your floors, kitchen storage, shower curtains and laundry detergents.1 Some chemicals are so dangerous they have been banned from use in consumer products, and others just from use in children’s products.
Chemicals that have been banned in children’s toys may be used in flooring where your child crawls, and may be absorbed through their hands and ingested or inhaled via dust.
One of the world’s largest chemical companies is now fighting to continue use of phthalates — chemicals with known endocrine disrupting effects. Children, whose neurological and endocrine systems are still developing, are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of phthalates.
Phthalates are also called plasticizers as they are added to plastics to make them more pliable. There are approximately a dozen different types of phthalates, most having a different method of entering your body and different health effects.
ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly held gas and oil company. Its CEO, Rex Tillerson, has spent years prioritizing corporate interests over those of consumers and the environment.