In the wake of media buzz surrounding the safety of sex toys in the adult novelty industry, the Coalition Against Toxic Toys (C.A.T.T.) has released a safe sex-toy buying guide on its website, BadVibes.org, called the Smart Shopper's Toolkit.
C.A.T.T. co-founders Jessica Giordani and Jennifer Pritchett, who also own the adult brick-and-mortar store Smitten Kitten, began researching sex-toy safety after receiving a suspicious shipment of product during summer 2003.
"Our initial inventory shipment was a box of dongs and plugs that arrived in boxes that were oily and looked damaged," said Giordani. "When we opened the boxes, we saw the product had secreted a liquid because of the extreme August heat. We tried cleaning the toys, and 10 minutes later, they were oily again."
After spending more than two years researching sex-toy safety in depth, Giordani and Pritchett decided to create the coalition to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions and to help adult retailers, distributors, and manufacturers minimize their dependency on hazardous sex toys.
Although a great deal of recent media attention has focused on phthalates – chemical plasticizers that have been banned from children's toys due to their toxicity and tendency toward migration (leaching) from toys – there are other harmful and questionable materials commonly used to manufacture adult toys. These include polyvinylchloride (PVC), industrial-grade mineral oil, and other volatile compounds.
"'Phthalates' is a big buzzword [in the industry] right now," continued Giordani. "But there's more to be concerned with than that. What we'd like to do with C.A.T.T. is to have a place where people have access to educational materials, whether [for a consumer or someone] in the industry, to make sound decisions when it comes to adult toys."
The Smart Shopper's Toolkit can be found at BadVibes.org/shopping_guide.cfm or by visiting the C.A.T.T. website and clicking on the Resource link.
