It seems even the sex industry is not immune to chemophobia, according to a recent Greenpeace Netherlands announcement, users of PVC sex toys destined for orificial use should not. Use them, that is.
According to Greenpeace, these plastic devices can contain “extremely high concentrations of phthalate plasticisers which allegedly pose a risk to human health and the environment”. The organisation wants the European Union to ban the use of phthalates in sex toys as it already has done with phthalates previously used in the manufacturer of PVC childrens’ toys.
The Daily Telegraph reports how, “The environmental group said it was shocked to find that seven of the eight sex toys it had tested contained between 24 and 51 per cent of phthalates.”
Their actual report shows that individual phthalates in a range of products are at at trace amounts. They do report the presence of 490 g per kilo of di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP) in one device as determined by GC/MS.
There is so much disinformation about phthalates on the web, that it is almost impossible to track down the actual levels of additives used as primary plasticisers in PVC products. I’d assume the percentage needs to be relatively high to make the devices we’re currently discussing “plastic” enough, but 51% seems very high regardless.
Moreover, where are the tests revealing how much of this “shocking” percentage might actually leach out of such a device during normal usage? And, even if there is a degree of leaching, does that correlate with actual risk to health. These questions are yet to be answered for any devices whether sex toys, children’s toys or medical devices.
Any thoughts?