Friday, November 23, 2007

Correspondence With Sassy Toys

I've emailed Sassy several times about their toys and pthalates/ BPA. Here is the relevant correspondence so far...
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Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns.
This year, as Sassy, Inc. celebrates our 25 year anniversary, we look back with pride on the products we have developed. Using Sassy products, parents have played with, fed, bathed, comforted and nurtured their children. Those special times represent the fruits of our creativity and our relentless dedication to safety.
To address your concern: All the material s with which Sassy products are made meet or exceed accepted international and U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) standards and methods. In addition, currently, we do not use any material s that contain detectable phthalates, which acceptable CPSC methods define as 50 parts per million or fewer. Please be assured that the safety of our products and the children using them is our primary concern.
You may know that, prior to the late 1990’s, Phthalate softened PVC was widely used for more than 50 years in toys, building material s, autos, and life-saving medic al devices. Because it was durable and bite resistant, this material was used in Infant feeding and teething items. When PVC softened with phthalates became a concern for some independent organizations, we worked closely with the CSPC. They oversaw an exhaustive study, which concluded that children are not at risk from PVC softened with phthalates. This was affirmed in independent and government sponsored research by Dr. Juberg of the Internation al Center for Toxicology and Medicine in Rockville , Maryland . Non-the-less, due to consumer concern, we opted to use al ternate materi al s to phth al ate softened PVC in Sassy products and continue to do so today.
Sassy has stringent design, development, testing and assurance programs, which include independent third-party preproduction design evaluation and post- production assurance testing to the American Society of Testing & Materials
(ASTM) and European standards. Safety tests are performed by our manufacturer’s quality control staffs and by Sassy’s own QC team in China .
We additionally perform tests intern al ly for each shipment, including use and abuse testing. We are proud to say that our standards not only meet, but al so exceed those set by the CPSP and the ASTM. The safety requirements can be reviewed by contacting the CPSC for a copy or they can be found online at: http://www.cpsc.gov.
We take great pride in our track record, but we aren’t resting on our accomplishments. We continually seek to improve our testing methods and procedures to maintain our high company standards for safety, quality and creativity. Please contact us if we can provide additional information.
Consumer Relations
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Hi,

Thanks for the reply!  Just to clarify... there are no
pthalates in any of your products?  What about the
baby photo album?  I read a review dated 2003 that
said there were pthalates in that one item.  I see on
the packaging it now says pthalate free, when was that
taken out?  (I have an older version I'm wondering
about.)  When exactly did you stop using pthalates in
things (again, I have some older teethers, etc I'm
wondering about)?  Thanks for the help!

Christy

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All of our products are Phthalate free. Our old book
in 99 was changed.

Shannon Novak
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(I emailed about BPA and Shannon asked for me to
name specific toys.)

Ok, how about these, what are they made of?  Thanks!

lively links
fascination station
polka dot rattle
who loves baby photo book
big and small chime ball
circle rattle
hourglass rattle
me in the mirror
ideal temp feeding spoon
coolin teethers - lion
gummy guppy
scoop, pour, strain turtle set with purple hippo and
squirt bug
foam letters and numbers

We may have more, but thats all I can think of for
now.  I really appreciate your replying to me!

Christy
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The fascination station - the clear plastic ball
The Circle rattle - the clear section with beads
The Hour Glass rattle - the clear section with beads

These are the items that are still made with Polycarbonate.


Shannon Novak

Consumer Relations
2305 Breton Ind. Park Dr. SE
Kentwood, MI 49508
1-800-323-6336 EXT. 3331

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing this corrospondance! That was exactly the information I needed.

    ReplyDelete