I first got the idea for Safe Ducky while standing on a production line in Guangzhou, China. I was working for a major footwear company at the time and was investigating why 200,000 pairs of our children’s shoes had high levels of toxic lead in them. I eventually found the root cause, but not until after half of the shoes were already on children’s feet.
That was one of many times in my career where I witnessed toxic products making it into retail stores. Contracted factories located offshore are difficult to control, and the sprawling global supply chains of most American brands gives plenty of opportunities for toxic chemicals to find their way in. You can’t tell if a product has a toxic chemical by looking at it, so a lot flies under the radar.
Safe Ducky is a start-up company that aims to reduce this hazard by empowering consumers to protect themselves. We test the products currently on the shelves at your local store and give you a safer way to shop. So far we have six stores (and growing!) in Los Angeles, and our Safe Ducky Member stores have had toxic products removed from their inventory.
In the on-site store inspections done this summer, we found about a dozen products that had toxic chemicals above the legal limit. Here are few examples of what we found:
- Phthalates in baby blankets, costume dresses and stuffed animals.
- Lead in toys and toddler silverware.
- Heavy metals in children’s clothing and baby books.
The removal of these products from the market likely helped hundreds of children avoid an unhealthy exposure to a toxic chemical. And we’ve got a lot more store shelves left to check.
Safe Ducky works by identifying toxic products in the store and then working with the store owner and manufacturer to remove them. For the first time, testing is focused at the end of the supply chain where it makes the most sense for our safety. Currently, most products are tested less than once per year and done offshore where it’s cheaper. Most companies will tell you it is too expensive to test and fix a problem once a product lands in the US, as this could include a costly public recall.
The US has been called a “toxic dumping ground” by many advocates due to our outdated safety laws. As other parts of the world pass stricter laws (like Europe and Asia), many risky products that don’t meet them are re-directed to us. Parents are often on their own when it comes to finding information about what they buy and how to protect their families from chemicals that have been increasingly linked to chronic disease.
The Safe Ducky process is simple: we visit a toy or baby store near you and bring sensitive lab equipment with us. This equipment allows us to check a product for toxic chemicals in real time and screen the riskiest products in a store’s inventory. We remove any products that we find that violate US law for levels of toxic chemicals like lead, phthalates and other heavy metals. The store then receives Safe Ducky Member status, and parents can then shop there enjoying an added level of safety completely free.
The goal of Safe Ducky is to empower consumers to be more informed about what they buy. There are many labels and other marketing gimmicks that confuse the issue, but we cut to the chase by checking for toxic chemicals before you buy a product.
The last several months since we launched has been an amazing adventure, but the best part is that the concept of Safe Ducky has shown to be effective – we can identify toxic products in the store and provide a meaningful way to protect local parents and their families. We are also creating a community of local stores, importers and their customers that care about chemical product safety and are willing to work together to make the industry safer.
Like any start-up we are grateful for any feedback, so please check out www.safeducky.com and join the movement. Each visit to a Safe Ducky store helps protect you and yours, as well as keep us out there checking toys.
Josh Kasteler
Founder, Safe Ducky
