December 16, 2010
By Chloe Schwabe

The Christmas season is an opportunity to gather with family around the Christmas tree and to see the delight in a child's eyes when she receives a new gift. However, not all toys bring joy.

A few years ago, my sister, who was expecting her first child, received a baby food processor for Christmas. After I did some sleuthing on the internet I found out that it contained bisphenol-a (BPA), a chemical linked to early puberty, cancer, heart disease, and other health concerns.

This example demonstrates how challenging it can be for average consumers to know what is really in the products we purchase. Gift giving would be simpler if the chemicals in the gifts were guaranteed safe in the first place.

Congress missed the opportunity to phase out BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups in the Food Safety and Modernization Act this year. They instead chose to do business as usual and not prioritize children's health. Unfortunately, banning BPA in baby bottles is just the tip of the iceberg in addressing the bigger problem of unregulated chemicals in the products we use in our homes, schools, and places of work and worship.

In 2010, many children's toys also continue to contain toxic chemicals such as lead, phthalates, cadmium, and tin. While the toy industry has made some improvements, no children's toy should contain chemicals linked to developmental disabilities, asthma, cancer, infertility, or early puberty in girls.

Overall, there are more than 84,000 chemicals approved for use and only about 2 percent have been tested for safety under the 34 year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Year after year, scientists are discovering more health conditions linked to the chemicals in toys, electronics, and other products that are often given as presents during this time of year. Yet year after year, Congress delays repairing one piece of legislation that could go far in protecting children's health from unwanted chemicals under the Christmas tree.

California, New York, Washington, Maine, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, and other states and municipalities are acting to address the failings of current federal chemical policy by passing legislation to phase out dangerous chemicals, or by developing programs that identify and test chemicals for safety to ensure children in their individual states are protected from toxic chemicals.

Without federal legislation, however, no child will be truly safe from toxic chemicals this holiday season or any day of the year. Untested chemicals are pervasive in toys, cleaning products, carpeting, high chairs, and other products that children come into contact with everyday.

Furthermore, low-income children and children of color bear a disproportionate burden of toxic chemicals because industrial facilities and toxic waste sites are often located in these communities. Toys from the dollar stores and second hand shops may also have toxic chemicals that have already been phased out of other retail stores.

This season is an opportunity to reflect on what our commitment and correlating action has been to protect public health, and children's health in particular, and the possibility to be better in the coming year. Is it really morally acceptable to expose children to untested or known toxic chemicals, even if just a little bit, everyday?

In the New Year, our legislators should seize this opportunity to ensure that parents don't have to spend another Christmas wondering if the gift they purchased is really safe. I hope Congress will grant my Christmas wish for children across the nation and pass strong, protective chemical policy reform in 2011.

Schwabe is the National Council of Churches Environmental Health Program Manager

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member faith groups – from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches – include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA