Blog
Healthy World Watch November 27th, 2009
Kathryn Meigel
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Top Tips
• We all know it’s important to feed our families healthful food (which often involves cooking at home), but how important is what you cook that food in? Non-stick cookware is easy to use, but at a cost of emitting toxic fumes into the air. Here are some helpful tips on how to choose the right cookware from Mom Goes Green.
• Looking for a way to get involved in your community? Plant Green lists activist groups by state, so no matter where you are you can contribute.
• Grocery shopping often adds up to be on the top of the expenses list. Money saving tips from Organic Mania can help save money while keeping healthy organic food choices on the table.
• The U.S. Green Building Council has released the Green Home Guide to help in greening your home. From getting home advice to locating service professionals, the new guide can help make your home more eco-friendly.
Other News
• More than 26,000 Melissa & Doug, LLC toys recalled due to excessive amounts of barium in surface paint. This is quite a blow to a company touting rigorous safety standards and careful product inspections. Health Canada announced the recall last Friday, citing that such levels of barium can cause nausea and vomiting, as well as high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm. This is not the first bad news for the company; similar recalls were issued in August and September 2008, after health officials found high amounts of barium in two other toys. Rob Iatesta, a spokesman for Melissa & Doug defended the Connecticut-based company, stating “it's impossible for any company to be perfect” every year forever.
Posted by Lynn from OrganicMania on 11/27/2009 at 02:40 PM
Thanks for the link to my post. It took me a long time to compile all those tips, so I love that they’re getting out there so people can benefit from them!
And as for Melissa & Doug…I remember their comments after the last recall…insisting that they had the highest quality standards, etc…They should move their end assembly (at least) back to the US so the paint is applied here.
More comments:
Posted by Rebecca on 11/30/2009 at 08:37 PM
Thank you for posting about the Melissa & Doug recall! Even though I live in the U.S., I will be taking back the toys underneath the tree. I will no longer buy or trust their product. I too was told they had strict standards, but have read reviews online about independent lead testing coming back positive for medium levels of lead. This is unacceptable to me. Thanks for informing us!