ZRecommends

Happy Thanksgiving from ZRecs

2009-11-26T16:21:23-06:00

We hope our U.S. readers enjoy a wonderful holiday with those they love. For us, it will be vegetable pot pie and pumpkin cheesecake at grandmother's house, with out-of-town relatives and a pair of Z's cousins for a day of play.

Enjoy the holiday! We'll be back next week with:

A study of tagless rash cases from CPSC reports released to ZRecs

Parts four and five of our Holiday Gift Guide: Classic Toys (and some that should be!) and Family Play (games and other activities for the whole family to enjoy!)

A You Bought It guide to holiday shopping

We'll be taking most of the weekend to prepare for next week, as well as getting in some quality family time, but we'll pop in over the weekend to report back on our lead-tainted onesie campaign. Thanks to a staggering response from ZRecs readers who sought out and/or sent in onesies, we exceeded our goals and the ball is now in Target's court. We'll have the full details and some backstory in a post later this weekend. Among the many things we're thankful for close to home, we are exceedingly grateful for all of you, and feel honored to have a community of parents who are willing to go the extra mile (or five, or ten) to help protect our nation's children. You're a special bunch.

JPMA certifies grizzly bear to industry crib standard

2009-11-25T20:10:38-06:00

The Juvenile Product Manufacturers' Association (JPMA) is pleased to announce that G'Night Grizzly, more commonly known as the grizzly bear or Ursus arctos horribilis, has met all applicable requirements for voluntary ASTM crib standard F1169 and has been certified as such through JPMA's rigorous certification process.

"G'Night Grizzly makes an excellent sleeping environment for infants," JPMA communications director Russ Gorman said in a press release Monday. "All moving parts have been proven to last through decades of use, and its breathing gently rocks infants to sleep. Furthermore, in this recessionary climate, the grizzly is a budget-friendly solution for parents, as it requires no mattress."

The G'Night Grizzly retails for $799 at WalMart, Babies 'R' Us, and national park gift shops, and is available in brown, deep red, blond, and in a limited edition in gray.

The JPMA vigorously contests the relevance of child injury data relating to the use of bears as infant sleeping environments. G'Night Grizzly easily passed all applicable federal and ASTM limits for claw protrusion and crushing strength.

Past infant injuries associated with grizzly-based bedding resulted from parents' failure to follow instructions attached to each G'Night Grizzley, which outline the restrictive diet and low indoor air temperatures necessary to keep the grizzly in hibernation mode. Yet several companies' proactive, voluntary recalls of previously marketed bears - for repair kits that ranged from a tranquilizer gun and several pounds of frozen salmon - clearly demonstrate that the juvenile product industry is more than capable of correcting for any missteps along the road of progress and innovation.

More than 2,000 products are JPMA Certified in 20 categories: bassinets/cradles, bath seats, booster seats, children’s folding chairs, portable bed rails, infant bouncers, high chairs, play yards/non-full size cribs, walkers, carriages/strollers, gates/enclosures, full-size cribs, portable hook-on chairs, infant swings, hand-held infant carriers, soft infant carriers, stationary activity centers, frame infant carriers, changing tables, and toddler beds.

The JPMA urges parents to seek out the JPMA Certification Seal when shopping for baby.

Notes on the recall of 2.1 million Stork Craft drop side cribs

2009-11-25T19:00:14-06:00

Here are the highlights from the CPSC/Health Canada recall notice for 2.1 million Stork Craft drop side cribs, in case you missed it. After that, our thoughts on this mess.

More than 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs, including about 147,000 Stork Craft drop-side cribs with the Fisher-Price logo, have been recalled. The recall involves approximately 1,213,000 units distributed in the United States and 968,000 units distributed in Canada. The recall includes Stork Craft cribs with manufacturing and distribution dates between January 1993 and October 2009. This recall also includes Stork Craft cribs with the Fisher-Price logo that have manufacturing dates between October 1997 and December 2004 (that's every Fisher-Price Stork Craft crib, folks).

The cribs’ drop-side plastic hardware can break, deform, or parts can become missing. In addition, the drop-side can be installed upside-down, which can result in broken or disengaged plastic parts. All of these problems can cause the drop-side to detach in one or more corners. When the drop-side detaches, it creates space between the drop-side and the crib mattress. The bodies of infants and toddlers can become entrapped in the space which can lead to suffocation. Complete detachment of drop-sides can lead to falls from the crib.

The parties are aware of 110 incidents of drop-side detachment, resulting in 15 entrapments, four of them resulting in death by suffocation, and 20 falls from cribs that resulted in injuries ranging from concussion to bumps and bruises. The cribs involved in these incidents had plastic drop-side hardware that had broken, missing, or deformed claws, connectors, tracks, or flexible tab stops; loose or missing metal spring clips; stripped screws; and/or drop-sides installed upside-down.

This recall does not involve any cribs with metal rod drop-side hardware. It involves only those cribs with plastic trigger and one-hand-system drop-side hardware.

These cribs were sold all over. If you think you might even possibly have one, please check as soon as humanly possible. And if you do, stop using it immediately and until you get a repair kit. Seriously. If you're new to co-sleeping, keep soft fluffy stuff away from your child's face, place a baby on their back, and don't drink to the point of intoxication, use sleeping pills, or take drugs. You'll be fine.

For additional information, contact Stork Craft toll-free at (877) 274-0277 anytime to order the free repair kit, or visit www.storkcraft.com (whoops, it's down!).

We have taken a "mixed-blessing" position on the evolving plan to ban drop side cribs from the market, and we think that influential members of the children's products industry would prefer to see drop side cribs banned completely rather than be forced to use more expensive metal hardware that will make them last longer and to invest in the R&D to make them easier for consumers to put together properly. (See item #4, above.)

We don't like to demonize companies for operating in a particular business climate. American consumers are price-sensitive. Cribs are expensive. But what we are seeing now is a crisis with a solution that will reward the bottom-feeding companies producing the cheapest, most failure-prone cribs on the market by preventing anyone from making a demonstrably safe version of the baby traps they currently peddle. In essence, it will force the safe drop-side crib manufacturers - even those who produce cribs in U.S. factories, use metal hardware, and have never had a crib recalled due to a child being injured - from eliminating their lines because plastic hardware fails and assembly methods are not idiot-proofed.

Here's our rough count, using CPSC data, of the number of cribs recalled for design flaws like weak crib slats, baby-suffocating gaps, crib slats spaced to entrap infants, faulty mattress supports, too-tall mattresses that allowed children to crawl over the railing, stretchy suffocating side wall materials, lead paint violations, and paint chipping choking hazards, from 2007-2009:

~1,020,000

And here's the number of cribs recalled for faulty drop-side design or hazardous improper assembly, from 2007-2009:

~5 million

Here's a list of the now-recalled Stork Craft cribs that had been certified as safe by the JPMA - which means that they were verified by JPMA to meet the current, voluntary ASTM standards for cribs.

Clearly, there's a crisis - unless you're the JPMA. Then it's a bunch of media hype mixed with dumb consumers who don't know how to follow instructions. Here's what the JPMA published about drop side cribs hours before the Stork Craft recall was announced:

To alleviate confusion that is in the media regarding the recently announced recall of certain drop-side cribs, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), the not for profit trade association that promotes infant safety and the development of recognized ASTM International product safety standards, reassures the public regarding the safety of properly used, drop side cribs.

All new cribs on the market today must meet minimum government requirements. In addition there are consensus performance standards, which are established by ASTM with involvement of the government and recognized experts, to which JPMA certifies cribs and other durable infant products. JPMA also reminds parents and care givers, that when you assemble a crib to the manufacturer's instructions and use it properly, a crib provides the safest sleeping environment for baby.

Recent media reports notwithstanding, cribs are intended to last for years (or multiple births) when properly cared for. Crib instructions which are attached to cribs include information on assembly, maintenance, cleaning, storage and use.

"JPMA believes that instead of alarming parents, we should work together to educate them about the importance of the proper use, assembly and reassembly of cribs and how to provide the safest sleep environment for a child," said Mike Dwyer, JPMA Executive Director. "The safest place for a child is in a fully functional, properly assembled crib. Parents are urged to closely inspect the hardware and stability of their cribs to ensure all parts are in place and secure when assembling and re-assembling cribs."

The Consumer Products Safety Commission has NEVER said that a properly assembled crib with fully functional hardware should not be used. Each year hundreds of deaths occur when children are placed in a sleep environment that is not specifically designed for children. Parents should continue using properly assembled cribs in good condition as it provides the safest sleep environment for children. [Source (PDF)]

But that "has NEVER said" will change to "NOW PROHIBITS" in a year, maybe a year and a half. That's because a new ASTM standard that excludes drop-side cribs entirely has been passed and will be published soon. At that point, every crib wishing to meet ASTM voluntary crib standards (try getting sold in a major retailer if you aren't ASTM certified) will have to have four fixed sides for at least the bottom 12" of the four crib walls.

Here's what we say to JPMA (they never answer):

That's because once the ASTM standard is published, the CPSC will review it, take comments from anyone, address those comments, and probably adopt the ASTM standard as federal law.

But ASTM is not the only game in town - Underwriters Laboratories has a much more stringent crib standard, which might offer some direction for requirements that any company wishing to produce drop-side cribs would need to meet. (It's safe to say that the big drop-side crib makers do not want this to occur.) This would force quality up for those who wished to serve that market. I'll embed CPSC engineer Patricia Hackett's comparison of the standards below, but what really matters are slides 10 and 12. Purple means the standard meets the existing federal regulation, pink means it doesn't address the safety area at all, and blue means the standard has stricter requirements than the federal standard. Th e ASTM standard fails to meet even the federal standards in 19 areas. The UL standard exceeds them in 13.

CPSC crib standards review

View more documents from ZRecs.

As Nancy Cowles of Kids In Danger confirmed with us, the UL standard was discussed during ASTM's deliberations, but the manufacturers at the meeting were loathe to hold themselves to its standards. Go figure.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this regulatory trajectory we're on is that there are already thousands of old, rickety cribs on the market that people keep around despite safety standard changes and DIY hacks (substitute hardware, reassembly without instructions) because they cannot afford a new crib, don't want to pay for one, or like something about the one they have access to. Parents already do this for many good and not-so-good reasons.

The hazard to come

In our first post last March on the evolving situation at ASTM regarding drop-side cribs, we wrote:

If the issue is one of quality, what does it say about the members of the ASTM F15.18 committee - which likely includes representatives from every company with an interest in infant cribs, i.e. everyone who makes them - that they would prefer an outright ban on the design than mandated quality improvements?

What sort of benefits might accrue to manufacturers who rely on the low end of the market to ban designs that can only be produced well at a higher cost? In other words, if higher standards for drop sides required more expensive parts and better design, would manufacturers who relied on a high volume of cheap cribs be put at a competitive disadvantage? Could these manufacturers, voting as a bloc, make a tactical decision to eliminate this portion of the market rather than abandon it to their higher-quality competitors?

One more thing: The current climate of fear surrounding the CPSC's ability to bring the hammer down on thrift stores and resellers for selling products they "should know" are unsafe means that the new ASTM standard's passage will result in the majority of U.S. cribs suddenly, without recall or even demonstrated hazard, becoming non-reusable commodities.

I'd like to amend that last bit. These cribs are likely to remain on the market in numbers far greater than what we currently see in older, out-of-date cribs, because parents with back problems, parents on the short side, and new moms in the ever-increasing number of women who give birth via C-section, all have a real need for them. There may be alternative solutions - Dream On Me showed off a crib with a mattress that could be mechanically raised and lowered with the push of a button, and combinations of lowered legs and hinged partial drop sides may offer some benefit. But drop-side cribs serve a meaningful need that will not go away quickly, and in that gap there will be unnecessary deaths that could be avoided with a more stringent hardware and design standard that still permitted drop-sides to be manufactured and sold.

A proposal for disclosure on Twitter

2009-11-25T04:44:12-06:00

As active proponents of disclosure in blogging, we've been thinking about the need for disclosure on Twitter for a while. Our interest took on a new sense of urgency nearly two months ago, when the FTC announced new guidelines that cast bloggers as endorsers of products who had to disclose any material relationships with companies they worked with. (Our only link to companies is and always has been their provision of products for our review, which we do not keep unless we pay for them.)

But as the December 1 deadline for full disclosure of material relationships by bloggers and social media users draws near, we have yet to see a coherent and sufficiently versatile method for including material disclosures in tweets. So we developed one, and have solicited feedback from some of the best folks in PR, marketing, and integrity-driven blogging we know.

We'd like to formally announce the launch of discl.us, which promotes the use of a single hashtag, #discl, with a set of five symbols that can be used to disclose each of the major material relationships we are aware of:

direct payment ($),

affiliate sales (%),

unrelated gifts (&),

product samples (~), and

consumable product (<).

(The second, fourth, and fifth items in that list are the disclosures we might use at any given time.)

As we wrote on the project site:

A few Twitter users have adopted hashtags like #sponsored and #ad to indicate when their content has a commercial interest behind it, and we think that's a great start. But there are a variety of reasons a tweet might need some disclosure, and we think discl.us offers a healthy solution: A Creative Commons-style menu of disclosure options that allow users to declare specific types of relationships.

Doing so ensures that disclosed tweets are not met with blanket skepticism, but an appreciation for how a specific relationship a Twitter user has with a company might or might not affect the tweet's meaning.

Making a disclosure with our method is simple: To disclose that your tweet about a Tonka truck was part of a paid campaign by Mattel and that they sent you a truck that you gave to your son, for example, you'd use the hashtag #discl$~. To tell your followers that you had received free samples of the chocolate you're raving about, you'd use #discl<. To disclose tweets during a Wii-themed slumber party you were sent on an all-expenses-paid trip to attend, you'd use #discl&. Unlike a generic disclosure hashtag, there is the chance that the details of a disclosure may be missed, but we think Creative Commons licensing has proven that the capacity to pick these things up quickly is there, if there's a reason to learn them. Also, the #discl foundation of the hashtag makes it unlikely that anyone will not get the general idea, even if they haven't familiarized themselves with the specific symbols.

Other models for Twitter disclosure may emerge in the days and weeks to come, and there may be arguments for singular hashtags like #ad. We are looking at this primarily from the perspective of bloggers and social media users who want to serve their readers with the integrity and transparency they deserve, and believe that different kinds of relationships not only merit different types of disclosure, but that FTC guidelines recommend it. We look forward to engaging with others who have diverse perspectives on this issue, and see discl.us as an opening volley in a conversation that has been a long time coming.

You can learn more about this simple system of hashtags and how you can help spread the word and encourage Twitter disclosure at discl.us. We welcome your thoughts, insights, and ideas as well - just follow us on Twitter @disclus to start the conversation.

2009 ZRecs Gift Guide, Part 3: Kitchen and cooking play

2009-11-24T16:21:18-06:00

For today's installment in our series of five 2009 holiday gift guides, we'd like to focus on an area that is near and dear to our heart, and one some folks might think of as two entirely different things: Kitchen gear, cookbooks, and other products to help you and your young child enjoy cooking together, and pretend play items that help kids pretend they are already master chefs. In our experience, the two run together seamlessly if you let them, and an enthusiasm for one will feed an engagement with the other. So we've collected twelve of our favorite items here that cover that spectrum - from products that will fascinate and engage your child's attention while playing in the kitchen while you cook, to products to engage kids from ages 3 to 8 or so with actual cooking, to toys that can help ensure that they regularly engage with the idea of preparing and serving fresh, healthy food. Bon appetit, or as we so enjoyed saying during a brief residence in Holland, eet smaakelijk ("ate smack-a-luck")!

Round cookie-cutter set: No animal shapes can beat an exhaustive set of sized round cookie and dough cutters, and your drawer space will thank you, too. These are also great for making pretend cookies out of play dough - an invaluable "pretend" cooking activity. | $15, Amazon.com

DIY spice smelling and tasting set: Buy a dozen or so acrylic magnifying boxes ($1.50 each, $5 shipping) and an unfinished cigar box ($4). Use non-irritating spices from your own spice rack, supplemented, if desired, with additional spices from your local grocery store. Select spices with dramatically different smells, spices with familiar smells, spices with varying textures, and spices in their whole form (cinnamon bark, cardamom, star anise, vanilla bean), cutting any larger items into segments small enough to fit in one of the 1"x1" boxes. Place in the cigar box, glue in a folded cardboard spacer if desired to fill up any unused space lengthwise, widthwise, or both, and either label it yourself or save that for a fun activity with the kid. Suitable for children ages 3 and up. | About $30, various sources

LillyBean play food: The best felt play food we've found. | $5 and up, LillyBeanMarket.com

Mollie Katzen's kids' cookbooks: The best cookbook series for prescoolers we've ever seen. Pretend Soup, Salad People - anything by Mollie Katzen written for kids is great. Not only are the recipes simple, flavorful, and fun for kids - many, many kids' cookbooks achieve that goal - but the recipes' directions are largely image-based, almost like comics, so kids can follow them much more independently. | $12-$15, Amazon.com | ZRecs review

Imagiplay Veggie Cutting Set: We love Imagiplay's version of "cuttable" fruit and vegetables. They're similar to those made by Melissa & Doug, but we trust their paint sourcing better than Melissa & Doug's, which we have some questions about. Imagiplay also use sustainable rubber wood for their toys. | $25, Imagiplay

Handstand Kids cookbooks: Handstand Kids makes great regional cuisine cookbooks suitable for kids from ages 5 or 6 to 9 or 10. We've used and enjoyed their Mexican Cookbook and Italian Cookbook, and each cookbook in the series comes in a "pizza box" package with a kids' chef hat, which Z wears at every opportunity. | $25, Amazon.com

Green Toys Cooking & Dining Set: Green Toys' excellent Cooking and Dining set includes a stock pot and lid, a skillet, four plates, four bowls, four cups, and four sets of knives, forks, and spoons, all made of 100% recycled plastic milk jugs. Green Toys has also split the set into two smaller sets this year, a Dish Set and Chef Set, | $30, Amazon.com | ZRecs review

Hand beater: Forget little whisks. Hand egg beaters are where it's at - easier for kids to use, fun to turn, and downright fascinating to watch. Let your child mix any liquids that needs mixing, and don't be surprised when they ask to play with it when there's nothing to cook. Best under supervision until age 4 or so, then all systems go. | $11, Amazon.com

The Manga Cookbook: Japanese cooking in a kid-friendly format. A magical way to get jaded preteens and teenagers back into the kitchen with challenging, interesting food presented in a format they can latch onto. Our teenage cousin gave it two thumbs up. | $11, Amazon.com

Yummyfun Kooking: The world's best cooking show for kids. Think Pee Wee's Playhouse in the kitchen, with a host that will not annoy anyone. Must be seen to be believed.| $15, Amazon.com | ZRecs review

Tovolo ice cream sandwich molds: As if ice cream sandwiches needed to be made any more fun. We've used these, they work great. They also offer a Christmas set. | $12, Amazon.com

Aeromax Chef Suit: We have handled Aeromax dress-up outfits extensively at trade shows in multiple years, and have always been impressed with their quality. Aeromax's chef outfit is a great way to encourage kids' pretend play in a play kitchen and to put on for real cooking as well. | $40, Amazon.com

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out our other holiday gift guides, including our 2008 gift guides, which feature about 90% unique and 100% relevant recommendations, in the links at the foot of this post (on our website, RSS and email folks).

All of the items in this gift guide are either things we have owned for a long time, or things we have handled at trade shows and did not receive samples of. We hope you have discovered something your child will love!

Links for 2009-11-20 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Widely Used Nanoparticles Could Cause Cancer
"Recent studies however have raised serious concerns about the health impacts of nanoparticles in a plethora of consumer products and now, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered that titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles could cause genetic damage."

World’s best in-flight magazine publishes world’s best article on the mommyblogging mess

2009-11-20T22:30:04-06:00

United Airlines' Hemispheres in-flight magazine was recently taken over by Ink Publishing, a team of people with a track record of turning filler magazines into magazines that print stories that you might actually want to read. For the past several months they've been publishing, in addition to the travel and food stories you'd expect to read at 30,000 feet, some quality short-form features with a surprisingly web-savvy perspective - ice hockey, Etsy, and now, the tangled web of so-called "mommybloggers" and the brands that are munching on their brains and turning a growing segment of the blogosphere into Night of the Blogging Dead. We'd go further to sing the praises of this truly balanced article about the temptations and painfully obvious pitfalls of corporate-fed parentblogging, but, well, we're biased, because reporter Sarah Wildman not only spoke at length with us as a source for the story, and not only actually included us in the story, but called us

Sorry, I had to see that writ large.

Seriously, though, you should go read the article. Articles that show off the worst sell-offs of personal integrity without talking about the varied choices people are making or delving into how conscientiously some bloggers are addressing these emerging issues has gotten really old, so this is a breath of fresh air. We are immensely appreciative of Hemisphere's interest in publishing a broader (yet shorter!) summing up of this issue.

Can you help ZRecs get a lead-tainted onesie recalled this weekend?

2009-11-20T05:02:37-06:00

As many of you know, we have been investigating the ingredients in tagless onesies in an attempt to help consumers identify what might be causing allergic reactions in their children. We've partnered with the Center for Environmental Health, a grant-funded organization that is testing products sold in the state of California for violations of that state's and federal lead limits, and have sent them dozens of infant bodysuits we purchased at a number of big-box stores.

Working with CEH, we have identified a onesie with a tagless label that appears to contain lead at nearly double the current federal limit. We find it deeply disturbing that tagless labels would be discovered to contain any lead, let alone banned levels of it, and we are eager to get this product off store shelves and recalled by the brand that is selling them to unsuspecting parents. The protocol for CEH to accomplish this involves sending samples out for acid digest testing by an accredited third-party lab, which, if the findings are confirmed, can then trigger action by the California state government, products being pulled from shelves, and recalls.

But there's a problem. After CEH identified the issue in the sample we sent, they went out and purchased all of the onesies in their local area that matched the one we sent them, and now have seven in all. But they have been told by the lab that based on the nature of the material being sampled (less than one square inch of material for each garment) they would need about 20 of these garments to do conclusive testing. Although sources in California would be preferred, any U.S. location will do for the purposes of this testing.

The alternative is that a product with known harmful and illegal levels of accessible lead would remain on store shelves and the company that markets them would continue doing so with impunity.

We've checked our local stores for this item, but they're sold out. We'd buy all thirteen for CEH if we could - this product should not be sold and is exposing children to unsafe levels of lead through direct skin contact. And that's where you come in. We need our readers to help us find and send these products to the Center for Environmental Health - in the next few days, if possible - to help get these products off store shelves. So we're asking:

Can you help?

If you live in a community large enough to support major national retailers, you probably have the store we're looking for in your area. If you can spare a few minutes this weekend while you're out running errands and are willing to buy an item that costs under $10 and drop it in the mail for us, please get in touch with us directly at zrecsmedia@gmail.com and we will respond with the name of the store, a photograph of the onesie we're looking for, and an address to send the garments to if you find any. If we're going to succeed in protecting kids from this unsafe product, we can't do it without your help.

2009 ZRecs Gift Guide, Part 2: The best learning products for holiday gifts

2009-11-19T15:15:59-06:00

Welcome to the second installment of ZRecs' five-part 2009 holiday gift guide, which will feature 12 of our favorite items of the year in each of five sections of our fantasy kids' superstore. Although we believe that all play is educational, today we'll be highlighting twelve exceptional toys, games and other play items focused on helping kids learn and grow in specific areas. As with our Cuddly Creatures section, all items here have been used in our home or handled extensively at trade shows.

Treasure Chests: Activity kits containing reading material, craft projects, toys and games for young children that explore history and culture, Treasure Chests are suitable for kids ages five and up. We own several Jeremiah bought back in the 1990s to save for when he had children - which is a good thing, because at least some of them have been discontinued. Don't miss out. | $15, Amazon.com

Plan Toys Animal Memo: The best designed memory game for toddlers we've seen, Plan Toys' Animal Memo has gently curved bottom edges to allow young children to pick them up. Beautiful, sustainable, and made to last. | $25, Amazon.com

Little Labs: Science kits for an underserved age group in science play - kids ages 5 to 7 - Little Labs cover an engaging range of topics and offer several well-planned activities and experiments in a small package. | $25, Amazon.com

Number Dwarves: One of our favorite games since Z first began learning her numbers, Number Dwarves has creative potential you wouldn't think was possible in an "educational" game. Also, those little gnomes are cute enough to eat. | $35, Amazon.com

Eco Tots Easel: The most compact and attractive art easel you could buy is also one of the most sustainable - all Eco Tots furniture is made from 100% formaldehyde-free, FSC certified plywood. | $140-$160, Amazon.com

Spy Gear Evidence Kit: The first piece of Spy Gear equipment we can heartily recommend, the Evidence Kit contains a ten-piece fingerprint kit, 30x magnifier, and related tools in a spy toolbox and make gathering "evidence" a fascinating activity for around the house and beyond. Think of it as a simple science kit with a storyline; young kids can enjoy it too with parental assistance. | $25, Fat Brain Toys / Amazon.com

Ancient Creature Cards and Giant Evolution Timeline: Startup Charlie's Playhouse has the mission of educating kids about evolution. Their detailed timeline (available in poster and playmat form) and accompanying creature cards are a great way to help kids appreciate the distant past, and helps them appreciate the diversity of life that exists around us today.

P'kolino Puzzle Stacker: The first major improvement to a pole stacker in decades, and a toy that will see years of use. Gorgeous, all-wood construction with tons of play potential. | $35, Amazon.com

Mr. Mighty Mind: Tangrams for young children that help them develop visual and spatial abilities. Fun and goal-oriented play. | $10, Fat Brain Toys

Trapecolo Color Design Tiles: Made of sustainable bamboo with non-toxic, water-based paints, these design tiles will offer hours of pattern-building fun. | $25, Amazon.com

LeapFrog Tag Activity Cards: We are constantly debating whether these card decks might be an even better format for LeapFrog's Tag Reader than our favorite Tag books. Each card in their Land Animals and Birds and Sea Creatures sets includes snippets of text and pen-driven audio narration about an animal, including habitat, appearance, and behaviors, and includes a marker indicating whether the animal is endangered or not, a feature that made a big impression on a four-year-old Z. | $9, Amazon.com

Wildcraft!: A highly educational and entertaining game for kids 5 and up (we have played it with Z since she was four), Wildcraft! teaches kids (and adults) about the basics of herbal remedies for everything from cuts and scrapes to stomach upset and fatigue. A unique and engaging introduction to a topic families may then be inspired to explore in greater depth elsewhere, it also has a sense of drama (imaginary scraped knees) that will resonate with young children. | $30, Amazon.com

Stay tuned for our kitchen, family play, and classic toys "top 12s" in the days to come!

All items for this review, with the exception of Number Dwarves and Wildcrfaft, which were received and reviewed prior to the institution of our Keep No Stuff Policy, and the Treasure Chests sets and LeapFrog products, which were purchased with our own money, were either received from companies and will be donated to charity or otherwise given away, or were viewed and handled at industry trade shows. How's that for disclosure, FTC?

Health Canada recalls Natursutten pacifiers; will a U.S. recall follow?

2009-11-17T17:00:55-06:00

Back in July, Nuby announced a U.S. recall of its entire stock of gel-filled teethers, a month after Health Canada recalled more than 125,000 Nuby teethers in Canada. The cause? Bacteria found in the liquid that wasn't supposed to be there, which could cause health effects in infants with compromised immune systems. So when Health Canada recalled about 2,500 liquid-filled teethers made by German company Natursutten yesterday, we had to wonder if history would repeat itself.

Canada's requirements for liquid-filled teethers are more different than those in the U.S. As we wrote back in July:

Our neighbor to the north requires the water in teethers to be sterile, i.e. to be free of all bacteria. U.S. (FDA) standards use two alternative tests - one to ensure that the preservative added to the liquid in teethers kills any bacteria that is introduced to the liquid, and another to test the liquid itself for the presence of certain strains of bacteria that are considered dangerous enough to be banned. In other words, there are certain bacteria that can be found in a teether in the U.S. and still be legally sold.

Health Canada recalled 125,000 of Nuby's teethers distributed in that country for failing their own standard, i.e. containing bacteria, period; in that case, Bacillus cereus, explaining that the bacteria was not thought to be dangerous to the general population, but could cause "stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea" in those with a compromised immune system.

After the recall was announced, the FDA contacted Luv n' Care and asked them to have some tests performed. Teethers were tested from two "batches" (according to company executive Joseph Hakim, the number of products in a "batch" varies, but can number in the thousands). In the samples tested from one batch, they found one type of bacteria, Bacillus subtilis. In samples from the other batch, they found Bacillus circulans. Both of these appear to pose the same level of risk as the strain found in the Canadian case.

These weren't the bacterial strains the FDA was looking for, and they were, technically speaking, permissible, but Luv n' Care opted to issue a recall of some 30 batches of liquid-filled teethers - everything on the U.S. market at present - and will take back older liquid-filled teethers as well. The FDA's language on the threat posed by this bacteria mirrored that of the Canadian recall.

The strains found in the Natursutten teethers recalled yesterday were different from those found in Nuby's teethers, but the warning was the same: "These bacteria generally do not cause illness. However, the bacteria may cause infection in children with weakened immune systems if the teether is punctured and the liquid filling from the teether is ingested or enters open wounds." Please be aware that this is not limited to children with persistent conditions or health problems - being sick is one form of a weakened immune system.

Here's what's even more interesting. The model Nuby adopted for its nationwide teether recall aggravated and infuriated parents by providing UPC codes but no images of recalled teethers - a recall designed to get unsold teethers returned to the company for irradiation, but poorly suited to assisting consumers in returning contaminated products. (We went through their online product catalog and matched up UPC codes with product images for consumers.) So far, the Natursutten recall seems to be following the same pattern - although Natursutten's teethers are only in two designs, unlike Nuby's dozens of confusingly-named models, but Natursutten's Canadian recall lists UPC codes, but does not describe whether this represents every teether sold under these designs or just certain batches of them. We contacted Natursutten's Canadian distributor, Monarch Distributing, to ask what consumers with used teethers should do with them - you know, in the unlikely event that they hadn't filed the packaging away for future reference. Were there any other identifying markings? Here's what Monarch's Al Husein wrote in a rapid response to our query:

If the packaging is no longer available and the teether is in use, it should be returned to the store for a refund or credit.

We'll be returning to that statement next month if a U.S. recall is issued. In the meantime, this appears to be one of the few areas of consumer product recalls (as distinct from government policy on hazardous chemicals) in which Canada leads and the U.S. follows. We'd encourage parents to either keep a close eye on their child's Natursutten teethers to make sure they do not appear weakened or likely to break or leak, to discontinue use during periods when their child might be sick, or to offer their child a different teether altogether.

2009 ZRecs Gift Guide, Part 1: The best soft toys

2009-11-17T11:30:45-06:00

Welcome to the first in a series of 2009 ZRecs Gift Guides. Over the course of five themed sections, we'll share 60 of our favorite gift ideas from the hundreds of toys and other children's products we've evaluated and used over the past calendar year. Today, we'd like to focus on our twelve favorite lines of soft friends, the most-loved and at times most engaging toy category in our own household.

Woodours Daddy and Baby Plush Playset: Woodours dolls pack multiple textures, sounds, and patterns into eclectic designs that are fresh, colorful, and full of surprises to engage your child’s interest from early toddlerhood on. Our favorite, the Daddy and Baby Bear set, has soft toys that fit in fabric slots on each of “Daddy’s” hands, a squeaky nose, a colorful satchel with a crinkly fish and vibrating motor, and a small bear who fits inside Dad’s belly and has a rattle in his own. Kooky, cuddly, and just plain brilliant. | $30-$50, Amazon.com

Teddes: Funky, friendly, or downright freakish, the folks behind Teddes have mastered the field of sculptural, textural, artist-designed, short-run dolls - and no, we didn't know that was a field either, until they showed up. | $30-$100, Tedde.com

Folkmanis puppets: Folkmanis makes animal puppets with a level of craft, detail, and specificity that is unusual in children's plush toys. This 18" Great Horned Owl, for example, has moveable wings, leather claws, and eyes that blink; smaller animals, or one of their gorgeous dragon puppets, would be equally welcome. | $10-$50, Amazon.com

Haba Fabric Ball Miniland: You may have heard rumors that the Earth was resting on a tortoise, but it's actually suspended in the cosmic ether by your inquisitive, drooling baby. Think of Haba's recent addition to their extensive line of soft fabric infant and toddler toys as your child's first town play mat, rolled up into a portable, machine-washable object with one less side. | $20, Amazon.com

Super Zeros: Ze Super Zeroes each have a super power, but a super defect to go with it - in his case, it's a fear of heights to go along with his high-climbing abilities. The series also features a super-swimming hippo who hates to get wet, a zebra who is great at hiding but always gets lost, and a few others. Each design combines multiple textures and patterns of fabric and has a removable cape, and their oversized head makes these 9" wonders instantly lovable. Z has fallen utterly in love with this silly little monkey, and we haven't even told her his story yet. | $25, Amazon.com

Organic Sleepy Bear: This off-white, organic bear is wearing a removable organic khaki Sleepy Wrap baby carrier and can carry her infant in front or in back. The materials are soft, even luxuriant, and the baby bear nestles easily into its carrier. It's easy to forget how much young girls love playing with mother-and-child pairs; the 12" Organic Sleepy Bear is like a kangeroo and joey, updated for the babywearing generation. | $20, Heavenly Hold

Food Chain Friends: They came, they saw, they started eating each other. Food Chain Friends are the carnivorous nesting dolls of the softie world, and they'll gorge their way into your child's heart - figuratively speaking, of course. Seriously, these dolls couldn't be cuter. Your kid will go nuts. | $20-$50, Amazon.com

Tuckins: Thin stuffed animals that fit into pillow-like beds make, among other things, fantastic dolls to sleep next to. With a pig, dog, monkey, bear, cat, and bunny to choose from, their innocence and simple charm will win you and your child over faster than you can say goodnight. | $15, OddDoll.com

Kathe Kruse Mini It's Me Doll: Kathe Kruse Waldorf dolls are handmade in Germany from all-natural materials. Their 15" dolls, also handcrafted from wool, mohair, sand, and other natural materials, run a staggering $175; these 10" dolls, many of them fairy-themed, are a relative bargain, and the brand's unequalled commitment to handmade quality shines through. | $70, Amazon.com

Veggies in a Crate: Under the Nile's anthropomorphic, organic cotton vegetables (and fruit!) are a soft toy classic. | $25, Amazon.com

MiYim Organic Plush Fairytale Collection: MiYim's series of 9.5" dolls are made of organic and natural cotton, dyed with natural mineral dyes in soft colors, and lovingly dressed in cute little shirts, dresses, and overalls that happen to be made of hemp. Between the blue elephant, pink hippo, coral bunny, green frog, and white monkey, it's hard to pick one - and at $20 apiece, you won't have to. | $20, Amazon.com

Let them design their own: A credit at the Xoddo.com store for a full-sized (9") doll will run you around $33, shipping included, and it is pretty much the only stuffed creature a child over the age of eight is guaranteed to love, because they'll design it themselves. You can print the gift card on your own printer, or have them mail it to you, and a 5.5" doll option and combo of the two are offered for $23 and $50, respectively. | $23-$50, Xoddo.com

Coming up

We'll publish the next four sections of our gift guide over the next several days here on ZRecs:

Family Play

Classic Toys (And Some That Should Be!)

In the Kitchen

Educated Kid

We'll follow them up with even narrower lists of recommendations over the remaining weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday. If you like what you see, please share our links with others using the social bookmarking links or email option below!

We received many of the soft toys above from their manufacturers for review. Others we handled in person at trade shows but did not receive review samples of them. All that we did receive will be donated to charity, except one of our daughter's choice, which we will pay for in accordance with our Keep No Stuff policy. Which toy would your child pick?

Links for 2009-11-13 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Toy safety still a crapshoot (in Canada)
"Andrus, who specializes in product development, wants to answer a seemingly straightforward question: why are there unsafe products in Canada? The question has proved baffling, because product recalls have not been tracked or studied in such a way that meaningful public statistics exist. No one knows how many recalls can be traced back directly to a Chinese factory cuting corners, for instance, or to design flaws that cause problems with offshore manufacturers. The result is that little is being done to find ways to make products more safely in the first place."

The Food Chain Friends: Consuming fun

2009-11-13T16:24:42-06:00

Developed by toy designers Teetersaw, the Food Chain Friends are sets of exotic stuffed creatures who eat each other. It's a brilliant idea, and we were thrilled to get our hands on a sample of their Gamma set, which runs $50 on Amazon and elsewhere. Like their Alpha and Beta sets, the Gamma group is made up of five beings, each of which is eaten by the next larger one in a playful inversion of the nesting doll concept. They are well-made, creatively-designed, brightly-colored, fun to play with individually, and fun to stuff inside each other. As their marketing copy says (and when is the last time I quoted marketing copy?): "They're friends. They eat each other. It's a complicated relationship."

Personally, I think the Alpha set, shown above, is my favorite - I just can't get over the biggest one's obtrusive tongue, or the second-smallest one's eerie rabbit-with-sharp-canines look.

Here's a video demo of the Gamma set, which is also fantastic.

Food Chain Friends are not sold solely as five-piece, $50 sets, but with the lowest three members of the food chain ($20) and the biggest two ($30) sold in their own sets. This means you can spend less and/or mix and match to create your own food chains. The only further they could take this (and we strongly encourage them to!) would be to sell the creatures individually, so, say, I could buy a dozen or so of those wispy-haired tomato spiders for the giant green blob to snack on.

An added bonus of these creatures is that you get multiple "friends" that are stored in the largest member of the group. This is pretty space-efficient, and makes Food Chain Friends the only stuffed animals who must disgorge each other from their bellies in order to play house.

A ZRecs Top Pick for their play value, character design, and massive humor value for children and adults. We love both the concept and the execution of this toy.

We received this toy from the manufacturer. When we have completed our seasonal toy evaluations, we will be allowing Z to keep one or two toys, which we will pay for in accordance with our Keep No Stuff policy. (I'm lobbying for this set - which Z loves - but her heart may already have been won by a stuffed animal we'll be reviewing next week.) The rest of the toys will all be donated to charity or given to children outside our home.

Beyond the Maclaren recall: Take our stroller safety survey and help the CPSC

2009-11-12T17:32:20-06:00

In case you didn't notice, Maclaren has recalled every stroller it made in the last decade for a retrofit that protects kids from having the tips of their fingers sliced off. We posted this recall to our ZRecs_Safety feed on Twitter, and have linked to at least one story about it in our ZRecs link feed, which comes rolled up in our Z Recommends RSS or daily email subscription. But the story of one of the largest child product recalls in U.S. history is raising questions about the safety of other strollers with similar designs. Can you tell us about yours?

You see, many umbrella strollers, not just Maclarens, have been hazardous for a long time. It's a risk that is intrinsic to the way many umbrella stroller hinges are designed. Twelve kids have lost fingertips from Maclaren strollers, but the CPSC is now going to have its hands full evaluating other models by other brands, and we should see additional recalls for repair kits by other brands in the coming months. These will make MacLaren look preemptive while others look like they've been dragged into the issue. In other words, in the long term this could improve Maclaren's reputation relative to several of its competitors, not damage it.

I have a vivid memory of a doll stroller recalled in 2007, because our daughter Zella, then three, had one. The primary hazard was fingertip severing, and the fix was a retrofit kit that shielded kids from the hinge, just like Maclaren's does. That toy stroller had the same basic design common to umbrella strollers, which is why the manufacturer probably thought nothing of it when they produced it. When that recall came out, there were probably people at big baby product companies who said, "What kind of an idiot would use an umbrella stroller hinge on a kids' toy? Strollers are designed to be opened by adults, not kids." But what these product designers don't seem to have recognized was how frequently a child's finger might get close to that hinge during the opening of the stroller. Kids who are eager to get going where that stroller will take them may start to climb or jump in before it's been fully deployed.

Thankfully, the fix for Maclaren's umbrella stroller - and, presumably, any company's umbrella stroller - is simple: a fabric cover that hides the hinge. Call Maclaren USA toll-free at (877) 688-2326 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the company's website, to get the fix.

The CPSC has already attested to the fact that they have received injury reports for other stroller brands, and Maclaren has called this an industry-wide problem. We'd like to see fixes implemented for each and every brand that poses this hazard, and we'd like to help ensure that these fixes are rolled out over weeks rather than months, and that consumers are aware of potential hazards in the meantime.

So we've developed an eight-question stroller survey we hope you have a moment to fill out. In it we ask what kinds of strollers you have used, what brands you'd recommend to others, and whether you've ever used one that poses this type of hazard. At the end of this eight-question survey we'll also provide a link to the CPSC's website, where we'd encourage you to also report any hazardous condition you've experienced. You can access our quick survey here. A nice side benefit is that we'll be able to report out to readers what brands are reader favorites, so don't miss the chance to cast your vote now!

Sprig’s Dolphin Adventure: A great toy boat, in and out of the tub

2009-11-12T12:30:53-06:00

We've been playing with Sprig's Dolphin Adventure Playset for over a month now, and have formed some opinions about it we'd like to share. Sprig Toys has launched several new products in the last couple of months, and we'll have a review of a couple of the others coming up soon.

The Dolphin Adventure Playset echoes Sprig's first Discover line, which feature USB sticks, kid-powered lights and sounds, and removable handles for toddler pushing. This new twist on outdoor adventure toys feature Sprig's simple figures in increasingly interesting contexts - an archaeologist with live dinosaurs, a mountaineer with a hang glider, or in this case, a marine researcher, animal rescuer, or good old-fashioned adventure naturalist. They could close this loop completely with a set featuring a figure and a movie camera on a tripod - these adventurers should have their own TV shows in Sprigworld.

The round thing behind the porthole is a carry point for a life preserver. Our little guy is feeling cocky today.

The overall look of this toy is a step up in sophistication for Sprig Toys' construction, and the boat is chunky, durable, and solid-feeling. I haven't measured it, but I'd say it's close to a foot long. This, plus the innovative material from which these toys are made - reclaimed plastic and recycled wood - explain its $30 price tag. That's a little high for a bath toy, which is how many parents will fit this into their lives. But for a large boat, figure with accessories (hat and backpack), tender and two dolphin friends, it sounds fair to us, and it's the only floating toy boat we've seen that doesn't look like it belongs only in the bathtub. This is a go-anywhere playset in the classic sense, although your kid will be itching to put it in water at every opportunity.

The big boat floats beautifully, but this little tender has a hard time keeping its balance. We found it difficult to place the figure in this boat without it tipping over.

The dolphins, too, tend to list a little, but this shouldn't bother an active user. If our own daughter's bathtub use of the Dolphin Adventure Playset is any indication, these things will be swimming pretty much constantly.

We always love the way Sprig builds an economy of materials into their toys. It's just another indication that their environmental thinking runs deep within the company.

Overall, the only complaint of substance we have about this set is that the main boat takes on water - not when it's floating, but when it's submerged. Water gets into the hull, will fill it up even, and although it can be drained out by tipping the boat sideways, and although it does not take on any water when it is floating on the water's surface, the fact that water can get inside means that some small amount might stay, and if you are not religious about getting that water out of there between baths, or if you use this actively outside - at the beach, at a lake or pond - you might find it hard to clean. It isn't the first bath toy to take on water, but our favorites are always those that don't, or which can be opened up for cleaning. The build on this boat is a one-way, locked-down design, so there's no getting in there to wipe it down, drain it thoroughly, or otherwise perform kiddie boating maintenance. Those who will be bothered by this know who they are; but overall, this is one of the best functional boats we've seen for preschoolers in a long time.

You can pick up the Dolphin Adventure Playset on Amazon.com.

We received Sprig's Dolphin Adventure Playset from the company. We will be donating it to a local toy drive.

Links for 2009-11-11 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

Stroller Recall: Maclaren Burns Fingers on Response
"As a remedy, Maclaren is offering free hinge covers to better protect children. No matter where you live, you can order them on the Maclaren USA website. Yet as of Monday afternoon, it was difficult to access the site because it was overloaded."

David A. Carter’s “White Noise”

2009-11-11T15:09:56-06:00

There has been a renaissance in pop-up papercraft books in the last decade, in part due to the prolific and inspired work of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, whose works include Maurice Sendak's Mommy?, adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Mother Goose, and collaborations on several excellent books about animals and mythic creatures and adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia and Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona.

The career of pop-up artist David A. Carter doesn't fit in neatly with this movement. It's also somewhat schizophrenic, and a reader encountering one of the two strands of Carter's double life in pop-up books might be surprised to discover the other.

On the one hand are Carter's series of interactive books about cartoon bugs - lift-the-flap books, touch and feel books, and what seems like dozens of pop-up books. Inexpensive, rapidly released, and often with an unfinished feel (his recent Snow Bugs, which we received for review, featured a few pop-up pages that were poorly designed and barely functional; others, like a page featuring an ice skater who spins on an axle when a tab is pulled, are truly inspired). The primary limitation of these books is that they are designed to appeal to and be manipulated by young children, but are not very durable. This is a challenge of pop-up books in general, but in Carter's case, a lack of complexity in the papercraft and numerous pull tabs and windows make it clear that these books are intended to be aggressively handled.

But along with these, Carter has been slowly releasing volumes of a different series, one we find fascinating. The latest, White Noise, was released two weeks ago, and we have been playing with it ever since. The book communicates a mastery of abstract paper forms that are sure to elicit amazement from children as well as adults, but it's also a symphony of crackling, popping, and creaking that would make a chiropractor swoon. The book sounds like an old house, or a ship at sea, and its mysterious, subtle, and fascinating sounds give the book an almost otherworldly dimension, using an unexpected route to achieve the goal of any book: to draw you into a world your mind cannot resist exploring.

White Noise joins four other books in this series - 600 Black Spots, Yellow Square, Blue 2, and One Red Dot. But it's the sound that makes White Noise such an exceptionally interesting and engaging book.

But I've already talked too much. What I really should do is let this book speak for itself. Once the intro music is over, turn it up - our Flip cameras' mics can only pick up so much.

You can purchase White Noise on Amazon.com at a ridiculous discount for a new book of this physical quality. It is a steal at its current price of $13.44, down from a very reasonable list price of $22.99.

We received White Noise and Snow Bugs from the books' publisher. We will pass it on to a child who can use it, but will not donate it to a charity as we'd like to ensure it goes to a family who will care for it.

Links for 2009-11-09 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST

The Green Phone Booth: The scoop on recycling glue sticks!
"Elmer's has partnered with Walmart to take back their empty glue sticks and bottles. All you have to do is box them up, print a label, and drop the box off at Walmart."
Confusion Over Where Money Lent on Kiva Goes - NYTimes.com
"The direct person-to-person connection Kiva offered was in fact an illusion. Kiva’s lenders were actually backstopping microfinance institutions, and since Kiva and other online giving and lending models pride themselves on their transparency, Mr. Roodman and others suggested it might better explain what its lenders’ money — about $100 million over four years — was really doing.

Three inspired Lego projects

2009-11-06T14:09:58-06:00

I saved my personal favorite for last.

Making safe homemade moon sand

2009-11-05T03:16:52-06:00

Z and I adapted instructions from the craft blog Skip to My Lou and made homemade "moon sand" the other day. It was easy to make, and given Z's enthusiastic use of it for the hour or so after we made it, this stuff could give our homemade play dough a serious run for its money.

Most "play sand" is made of pulverized quartz rock. The problem with this form of sand is that it contains crystallized silica, which is a known carcinogen that is nasty for little lungs to breathe in during play sessions. That's why most play sand has a Prop 65 warning on it, required for it to be sold in California. Some play sand also contains a fibrous form of tremolite similar in structure to asbestos that some consumer groups argue is potentially as harmful.

More than you probably wanted to know about sand. One easy alternative is Safe Sand, which is made of feldspathic rock and does not contain crystallized silica. We bought a sample pack of variously colored sand and decided to try it out for our moon sand project.

To make a small batch of moon sand, mix one cup of sand with 1/3 cup cornstarch. Add a quarter cup of water, stir, and add a tiny bit more to get the right consistency, so it can be packed together like sand you'd like to make a sand castle out of. I've never used brand-name Moon Sand before, but that's what I assume it's like.

Z chose to use her sand to make little sand castles. Kinderville cups make great sand castle molds.

You can buy ready-made Moon Sand from Fat Brain Toys or Amazon.com, Safe Sand at Safe Sand's website, and cornstarch at your local grocery store.

Class action lawsuit filed against Gaiam for BPA in aluminum water bottles

2009-11-03T21:21:34-06:00

Lawyers in Gaiam's home state of Colorado filed suit last week seeking class-action status for a lawsuit against Gaiam for BPA in their aluminum water bottles. ZRecs broke the story accusing Gaiam of hiding BPA in their water bottles, followed it up by breaking the story of Gaiam's admission of BPA at far greater levels than SIGG, and have continued to follow the story as Gaiam has released testing data and cleaned up their own website.

After Caddell & Chapman filed its lawsuit against SIGG in October (we also did most of the original reporting on that story), multiple firms' lawyers were racing to be first to bring Gaiam to court, and C&C got beat out. Perhaps as a result of this hasty process, there are a couple of errors in the filing by Chimicles & Tikellis LLP that will need correcting. I'm not sure how that process works, but we'll relay them here rather than contacting the lawyers directly, in order to make it clear that we have had and will continue to have no connection with this lawsuit.

The complaint cites Gaiam bottles as containing levels of BPA "ten times larger than the levels of BPA that SIGG reported in its own bottles." In fact, it is approximately ten times larger than the method detection limit used in SIGG's internal testing, which was 2 parts per billion. In those tests, however, SIGG did not show any detectable leaching (i.e. leaching occurred at levels below that testing threshold).

Multiple references are made to the bottles being made of stainless steel. They are in fact made of aluminum. Gaiam does also sell stainless steel water bottles, but these are highly unlikely to contain BPA, as stainless steel water bottles do not need to be lined, as aluminum does.

When lawyers come calling...

It's worth taking a moment to outline how we interact with lawyers when they come calling. We believe Gaiam should be held accountable for its deceptive marketing and its executives' refusal to come clean on an issue that was a high consumer priority until we proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they were hiding something. Class action lawsuits are, for better and for worse, the primary forum our government provides for seeing these issues resolved. But participating in that process isn't our role. It wasn't with Carter's, it wasn't with SIGG, and it won't be with Gaiam.

There's even a chance that you could be a loyal reader of Z Recommends and never have heard about the class action lawsuits moving forward against Carter's and SIGG, both of which were filed during the periods in which we aggressively covered the issue. That's because we make a rule of not publishing posts seeking to help firms who are looking for plaintiffs for their lawsuits, or to publish comments from lawyers doing the same. You see, owning an issue like this, which can be lucrative for a business litigation firm, typically centers around which team of lawyers can find a suitable individual or individuals to be named as plaintiffs and get to the courthouse first. There are so many potential conflicts of interest in our allowing them to conduct their search on Z Recommends - not to mention the spam-tinged unpleasantness for our regular readers - that we will never let it happen, even though it means rejecting comments from lawyers who may express a passion for seeing real justice done.

When lawyers contact us, we sometimes discuss information that was provided to us on the record for publication, or which we discovered in our own research. We do not share information that was provided to us off the record, we do not share information relevant to stories we are still developing, and we do not name sources who have requested to remain anonymous.

If you are aware of any other companies we should investigate for their marketing claims or product safety, get in touch with us. Our email address is editors (at) zrecs (dot) com.

Recent family photos

2009-11-02T13:41:33-06:00

Z was a fairy princess riding a unicorn for Halloween. Jenni made the cape (it has wings attached) and we had planned to retrofit her cowgirl horse to unicorn status, but it was looking awfully brown and we found a pink unicorn at Target on sale a few days before Halloween, so we sprung for it. We spent the evening "trick-or-treating" at a local church carnival.

A few more photos from the last few weeks:

At the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, a few weeks ago.

It was warm. Still is, some days, here in central Texas.

Yesterday we went bowling with some friends. It was Z and her four-year-old friend's first time, although Z has played a video-game version of bowling before.

The Britax Blink: A nice compact stroller at a great price point

2009-10-29T13:24:13-06:00

We've been playing with Britax's new compact, lightweight stroller, the Blink, for a few months now, and are ready to share our impressions with you. We're also ready to experiment with more video reviewing, so today's post is a combination of the two. I'll share a few highlights about the Blink in text form, drop in our video demo review, and follow up with a few things you'll see us tweak as we get further into this video reviewing thing.

What Britax does for $150 is impressive. The Blink's basic bone structure is nearly identical to the MacLaren Triumph, but at about $40 less MSRP and with bigger wheels. The canopy is generously sized, it has a pocket I didn't mention in the demo below, and it has a five-point harness. Overall, it's the most lightweight and maneuverable feel you'll get out a stroller built with what also feels like very durable construction. We love how smooth and functional the seat recline is - that plus the five-point harness are two factors that make this stroller truly useful for younger kids - yet this stroller's weight limit tops out at 55 pounds. Z is very tall for her five years, and fits very comfortably in this stroller. (We took it with us to the ABC Kids' Expo in Las Vegas in September. It travels great, too.) The Blink's wheels also have some sort of internal suspension system; we didn't notice this specifically but it does have a smooth ride. Our only real complaint about the stroller is mentioned in the video.

My tripod was an eight-foot ladder, so in choosing between step 4 and 5 I know I didn't necessarily get the best angle on the action. More broadly, we'll try to incorporate still photo details and/or multiple camera angles into these reviews so we can cover things in better technical detail. We'll also do some video reviews of things that don't really need any technical detail, and we'll use multiple camera angles or takes to keep them fresh. We probably won't do much scripting, either, so we'll focus our video reviewing on the products we've had the most experience with and can easily speak about off the cuff. To that end, our videos will probably always be supplemented by some additional information in a blog post, although I'm not sure how best to point people to that post if they're watching the video off-site (on YouTube, embedded in someone else's blog, etc.). Any thoughts on this would be welcome!

Hopefully this model for video reviews can prepare us for even more interesting and personalized video segments soon. And of course, we'll still be doing a lot of text-and-photo reviewing in the format you're used to seeing on ZRecs.

The Britax Blink sells for $150 on Amazon.com and elsewhere. We recommend it for those who want a compact stroller that has a sturdy and open feel, a great child size and age range, and good portability at a very reasonable price point. (You can also outsmart that one design flaw with a pen shoved between one of the pairs of rear wheels.)

The Britax Blink stroller in this review was sent to us by the manufacturer. We will be donating it to charity.

Links for 2009-10-28 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PDT

NIEHS awards Recovery Act funds to address bisphenol A research gaps
"NIEHS will invest approximately $30 million over two years on BPA-related research. This includes existing grants, the newly awarded Recovery Act grants and supplements, in-house research and NTP projects. The NTP effort is part of a larger five-year commitment to collaborate with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research to examine long-term health outcomes resulting from developmental exposures."

Strike two for Mia Moda: NHTSA recalls 5,500 car seats

2009-10-28T15:40:16-06:00

Children's product manufacturer Lerado Success has recalled more than 5,500 Mia Moda infant car seats due to two dramatic defects. "The harness splitter plate located on the rear of the seat has sharp edges which can cut the harness," the NHTSA recall notice states. "Also, the base could crack in a crash."

The recall applies to both the Viva and Viva Supreme - seats with model numbers 5000, 5050, 5070, and 5080, and bases with model numbers 5001, 5051, 5071, and 5081. The company is offering a full refund.

There's no word yet on what portion of their product line these models represent, but the company's product recall page appears to be a work in progress, and makes no mention of the recall as of this writing.

The Viva Supreme was introduced to replace the Viva just this year, so it's notable that both car seat models are included in the recall - that means this has been an ongoing problem that persisted through the seat's redesign process, which doesn't speak well for the company's R&D.

It's also notable because this is the second recall of Mia Moda car seats in the company's brief history; in November 2007 NHTSA recalled nearly 1,000 Mia Moda car seats for problems with its LATCH system design that could cause the carrier to detach from its base, as well as for a pretty egregious oversight - failing to include product registration cards with the car seats, and thus eliminating the company's ability to alert Mia Moda car seat owners to just such a recall.

Mia Moda car seats were supplied by Lerado Success, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of China's Lerado Group, which manufactures a wide variety of children's products - everything from strollers, beds and playards to soft goods and battery-operated ride-on cars - for sale in the U.S. and China. The company may also produce parts or the whole enchilada for some cheaper car seats common on retail store shelves - U.S. companies are often secretive about who supplies their internationally-produced products, but given that Lerado has counted Evenflo, Kolcraft, and a host of other major U.S. brands in its past portfolio, it wouldn't surprise us.

Viva and Viva Supreme car seats are also still widely available for purchase on shopping websites like Amazon.com. Buyer beware.

Note: This post has been edited to reflect corrections offered by Lerado Success. The changes correct a misstatement regarding the recall's nature (it was voluntary, and brought forward by the company, not initiated by the NHTSA) and the relationship between Mia Moda and Lerado Success, which is not one of ownership but a supplier/contractor relationship. We apologize for these errors.

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