Christmas and Reyes (January 6th when children traditionally receive their presents) are just around the corner and just as every year the Spanish are going to spend a small fortune on toys. But buying toys is not child's play...

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It�s hard to believe that something which has been made to be used by a child could be a source of pollution and even dangerous. But toys are not what they used to be. Over the years rag dolls, wooden cars and footballs have been replaced by toys which are more complicated, made of less natural materials, need more energy to make and so pollute more, and which when they break turn into waste which is hard to dispose of.

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Most toys nowadays are made of plastic such as ABS and PVC. Ecological associations have been calling PVC an environmental poison for years. It is manufactured with chlorine (obtained by the electrolysis of salt water) combined with ethylene (a petrochemical). They claim it pollutes from the time it is manufactured until the end of its life (PVC cannot be recycled).

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As if that weren�t enough, the ecological organisation Greenpeace has claimed for some years that phthalates -plastic softeners found in PVC soft toys- are released when chewed or sucked, making this type of toy dangerous not only for the environment, but also for our children�s health. According to Greenpeace various laboratory studies have proved that the ingestion of these toxic substances may cause anything from liver damage to long term problems in the reproductive system. The makers of PVC claim that this plastic, which, environmental issues aside, has a great many uses, is harmless, and that it is impossible to prove that phthalates are harmful to children in the quantities that they could be exposed to by sucking a toy. Ecologists recognise this may be true in the short term but nevertheless warn that it may be years before the health consequences of many toxic chemical products become apparent.

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In April of this year the European Parliament finally voted in favour of introducing a policy whereby these plastics would be gradually withdrawn, starting with soft PVC which is used to manufacture toys and hospital products. However for the present PVC is still found in many toys for children over 3, though some companies, like Mattel and Lego, have already chosen to stop using it in their products.

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Green toys, toys from the heart
Toys made at home with recycled material -buttons, cardboard boxes, wire, cord, rags, shells, water, stones, branches and so on- are the most ecological option, since they help to reduce consumption and to recycle, two of the cornerstones of day to day ecology. And, according to psychologists, it is also the most pedagogical option because it stimulates children�s imagination, improves manual skills and at the same time prevents them from developing bad consumer habits at a very early age.

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Another possibility is to look for alternative games made out of natural materials which don't use batteries -wooden jigsaw puzzles, rag dolls, etc. These can be found in the growing number of handicraft fairs selling toys which are usually very attractive, well made and pedagogically sound. Or try the toys they sell in the FairTrade shops, which have the added merit that it puts the little ones into contact with other cultures, and ensures that the doll you are buying for your child has not been made by any of the 250 million children all over the world who work to survive.

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DID YOU KNOW�?
� In the European Union there is a directive regarding Safety of Toys which applies to all the toy manufacturers in the European Community, and since 1990 has been included in Spanish legislation.
� Dolls were for yet another year the best selling traditional toy in 2000 (18.2%), followed by toys for pre-school children (14.1%), games and jigsaw puzzles (12.9%), cars, trains and other vehicles (11.5%), activities (10.3%), action figures (7,8%) and cuddly toys (7.0%). Though they cannot compete with electronic toys and videogames, which in spite of being temporarily toppled from the number one spot by the scooter last year, are once again our children's favourite gift this Christmas.
� Spanish children have the least new toys in the whole of the EU. Each Spanish child receives an average of 17 new toys a year; not many compared to the 26 that the average Eurokid gets, but without a shadow of a doubt a good deal more than any of the 250 million children around the world who, according to various NGOs working in the area of development, have to work in order to survive.
� The RNE (Spanish national radio) and the Crecer Jugando (Grow Up Playing) Foundation are organising, for the second year in a row, the solidarity campaign One Toy, One Dream, with the aim of sending toys to the children of Nicaragua, Mexico, India and Mozambique. Thanks to the money collected last year, more than 150,000 toys were sent to Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador.