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Good Shopping Guide on toys
Date: November 2002
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The Good
Shopping Guide. Ethical Marketing Group |
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| 'What’s
most worrying about toys, especially the brightest and noisiest of them, is the
sweat-shop conditions in which they may be made.'
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The
newly published Good Shopping Guide is the world’s first comprehensive ethical
reference guide to clearly list the behaviour of the companies behind everyday
consumer brands.
You can read the surefish
review of the Good Shopping Guide
here.
You can also find out what the Good shopping Guide says about perfumes
and aftershaves, what
it says about computers,
TV and Videos and
Beer,
Lager and Cider.
To buy your copy of the book from Christian
Aid simply call: 020 7523 2229
Here’s what the Good Shopping Guide
says about…
Toys
What’s
most worrying about toys, especially the brightest and noisiest of them, is the
sweat-shop conditions in which they may be made. Most of the toys sold nowadays
in the UK are imported – more than half of them from China and Honk Kong,
and many of the rest from Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines,
where regulations are known to be lax. We also need to be concerned about the
use of PVC, which may cause damage to small children when it is chewed.
Working conditions
Examples of the poor working conditions within my factories are unfortunately
numerous, from 17-year-olds in china working 11-hour days for just a few pounds
a week, to children under the age of 15 making toys until 11 o’clock at night.
There was one terrible incident in 1993 when a fire broke out at the Kader toy
factory in Thailand. It quickly consumed the building leaving 188 dead and 500
injured. A government study later confirmed that poor safety measures, such as
a lack of fire exits and locked doors and windows, had played a major part in
the disaster.
A World Development Movement (WDM) campaign has tried to
persuade manufacturers to adopt codes of conduct about working conditions in the
factories they source from, but with limited success. Some companies do have codes
of their own. Mattel’s code promises not to employ forced or child labour,
but the most comprehensive code is Lego’s which complies with most of WDM’s
demands.
The
PVC problem
Greenpeace has long campaigned for a ban on
the use of PVC plastics in toys, citing evidence that phthalates (hazardous chemicals
added to PVC to make it soft and flexible) may leach out when toys are chewed.
PVC also generates hazardous chlorinated emissions and wastes.
Good
Shopping Guide ratings
Top rating:
• Bandai
• Lego
Middle
rating:
• Hasbro
• Tomy
Bottom
rating:
• Bluebird
• Disney
• fisher-Price
• Matchbox
• Mattel
• Tycho
To see how the Good Shopping Guide reached these conclusions, you’ll
have to buy the book, which is available from Christian Aid by calling 020 7523
2229
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