Apparently, Sex Toys Are Safer Than Children’s Toys

You read that right: Sex toys might be safer than children's toys. Chemically, that is. According to The Guardian, a study by the Swedish Chemical Agency, fewer sex toys contained dangerous chemicals than did children's toys. To be fair, the agency also studied way fewer sex toys than they did children's toys. In 2016, the SCA found that only 2% of the 44 sex toys they looked at contained chemicals that had been banned for safety concerns. On the other hand, another study that the SCA conducted in 2015 found that 15% of the 112 children's toys they looked at contained banned chemicals. "This was a bit surprising," Frida Ramstrom, an inspector for the agency, told AFP. "This was the first time we did such a study." Out of the 44 sex toys, it was just one pesky plastic dildo that contained a banned chemical. It reportedly contained chlorinated paraffins, which the SCA says is suspected to be linked with causing cancer. So why might sex toys be safer? The agency predicts that it might be because sex toys are more likely to be made by independent companies who have more control over what's in their product. Meanwhile, children's toys are more likely to be manufactured and imported by larger companies, which tend to have less power to exert over certain demands, Björn Malmström, a spokesman for the SCA, told The Guardian. Again, it's a pretty small sample size of sex toys compared to children's toys, but it's certainly food for thought.