Bodysafe Toys
All Sex Siopa's toys are bodysafe.
If you are buying any of our sex toys, you can be assured that we have researched the toy and it's manufacturer. We only sell products that we are comfortable using ourselves, and we need to know our toys are safe to feel comfortable!
“Bodysafe” refers to the toy being made from materials known to be safe for internal use. Examples of bodysafe materials include:
- silicone
- hard plastic
- tempered glass
- ceramic
- surgical steel
- Wood (treated with polyurethane)
Sex Siopa stock only bodysafe toys.
I spend a lot of time researching the products I stock, and the manufacturers who make them. There are a couple reasons this is necessary:
- Lack of international regulation on sex toys means there is a lack of consistency across the industry. Harmful chemicals are used in the manufacture of some cheaper sex toys - especially common is the use of a group of chemicals called 'Phthalates' as a plastic softener to give plastic toys a jelly-like feel.
- Labeling on sex toys can be inconsistent, and just because something has a name that sounds safe doesn't mean it is. It is easy for product descriptions to become more of a marketing ploy as opposed to an accurate description of what the products contain.
For novelty use only?
On the packaging of many sex toys, you'll often see a small label that says 'For Novelty Use Only'. At Sex Siopa, we try and avoid products that have this label. If one of our toys has this label, you can be very sure that we have researched the product and company behind it carefully. We only stock well designed toys from manufacturers who aren't afraid to state clearly what their products are designed to do and what materials they are made from. We want toys that are designed for to make your sex life better, made by manufacturers that are proud to design the objects we have our most intimate contact with.
International Regulation
Unfortunately there is very little, if any, international regulation regarding the manufacturing of adult toys, and because testing and FDA approval for “medical devices” is so expensive, many toy companies will opt to use cheaper materials, some of which have been linked to health issues ranging from allergic reactions to bacterial infections to cancer. The main one is a group of plasticizers found in jelly toys called Phthalates. In 2008 George W. Bush (someone who has never been a fan of regulation) and his administration signed into law the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act which stated that "it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture for sale, offer for sale, distribute in commerce, or import into the United States any children's toy or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of DEHP, DBP, or BBP (Phthalates)". This regulation restricting the use of pthalates only applied to children's toys - sex toys were not covered.
Phthalates - harmful chemicals used as plastic softeners in cheaper adult toys. Phthalates are used in many sex toys to make the plastic softer and give them a jelly-like feel. Unfortunately, this process of making the plastic softer also leaves it in a less stable form, and phthalates and other chemicals are likely to leech out of these softer plastics. If phthalates are enough of a health risk that George W. Bush thinks they must be taken almost entirely out of children's toys in case they end up in a child's mouth for brief period of time, then it is probably a good idea to make sure they are not used in the manufacture products whose primary use in close contact with or inside your body.
Other chemicals found in cheaper sex toys
Phthalates may be the main group of nasty chemicals found in cheaper sex toys, but they're not the only ones. According to German chemist Hans Ulrich Krieg, other chemicals that were found in some toys included: Toluene; Cyclohexanone; Tetrahydrofuran; Diethylhexyl Phthalates; Alkane; 1-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidinone; Phenol; Trimethylphosphite; Dimethylformamide; Dimethyl phosphite.
Buy bodysafe: If you are buying anywhere else, make sure you do your research and buy bodysafe. For a great, comprehensive yet easy to understand guide to silicone toys, I highly recommend this article by sex and toy review blogger Lorax.
Links to Bodysafe Resources:
- Yale College Sexual Literacy Forum on Bodysafe Sex Toys
- Kinsey Confidential: The Safety Dance - Sex Toy Safety for a New Generation
- Reddit: Toxic Sex Toys - what to know before you buy
References:
Emily Stabile, Commentary: Getting the Government in Bed: How to Regulate the Sex-Toy Industry, 28 Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just. (2013). Available at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol28/iss2/1
Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Survey and health assessment of chemicals substances in sex toys (2006). Available at: http://mst.dk/service/publikationer/publikationsarkiv/2006/sep/survey-and-health-assessment-of-chemicals-substances-in-sex-toys/