Very Important: Sophie ha Girafa is bisphenol A and phthalates FREE!

This is a not-so-light-hearted post today. Not everything can be fun even on a tiny blog about Sofi Ha Girafa and giraffes around the world. But I feel it is important.

Those past months I have read articles about early puberty affecting our children. It can be as early as 7 for a girl and 10 for a boy whereas in the 19th century 15 was the earliest age.

This is quite worrysome. Poor children... already developped physically but clearly children mentally-- as they should be!

A few factors have been pointed out as potential causes of early puberty: obesity, food or better said junk food, no activity be it sport, walking, playing outside...
There are sadly no clear answers... and while some blames obesity for it, others focus on the chemical exposure that comes along modern life.

Some researchers believe that environmental chemicals mimicking the hormone estrogen could be contributing to the changes and exposure to three chemical classes - phthalates, phenols and phytoestrogens - can ‘disrupt the timing of pubertal development’ in young girls.

I wrote a bit about those chemicals in December last year when I just started the blog. The fact that Sophie the Girafa is chemical-free was a huge reason for me to start importing it to Israel.

Earlier this year France banned Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles. It should have been banned on all plastics but politics being politics, economy being economy.... the ban will only affect the baby bottles....Let's hope it is only a start! ( great article in French here)

So clearly there is some reasons to worry about exposure to those chemicals...

For us parents, what is done is done, but for your tiny ones, you must remember and pass the word around that Giraffe Sofi is chemical free!

                            

Sophie the girafa contains

NO bisphenol A and NO phthalates.

Sophie Hagirafa is probably

one of the safest toys in the world 

for your baby.

That makes her not only the safest but the best of the bestest gifts your baby can receive at such a young age.

And you will agree with me: there is nothing more important than Health...

Poet Raja Basu said in one of his poems "Health is Wealth"

Merci à  toi bébé Camille et à tes parents!

Organic is NOT just another catchword

For the past weeks , as you know, I have been doing my best to present Sophie Ha Girafa to Israel. One of the strongest attributes of Sophie is that she is an incredible teether that has been around for close to half a century and  that she is chemical, phthalates and BPA free with safe mineral coloring.

In most countries this is enough to take a second look at Sophie. Here it is not. Organic is just another catch-word that implies paying more for no valid reason. Daily life is too noisy, stressy, busy and religiousy to worry about organic and spending money that could be used on food or bills.

When my first child was born in Mexico where we were living wayyyyyyy before the internet  I was relying on family and friends, magazines and books to learn the yes and no for baby. I do not remember even knowing the word "organic" but I was well aware of the importance of water and air quality as well as lead used in baby toys. I was told by Mexican friends to better buy American standards toys and not the beautiful colored ones with no packaging at a quarter of the price that were so attractive. I was not too sure what was so bad about the paint or how it could affect my baby, but I did follow the recommendation. I remembered my feeling of shock when I had to have a blood test to check my lead level.
My mother-in-law flew with 5 kilos of special detergent to use for baby clothing to avoid any allergic reaction on baby when I told her I was really not sure I could find such product there. And from the French side of course I knew I would have to get a Sophie asap. As I wrote here, I did not know why but I knew Sophie was a must-have for Babies. Everyone simply knew that ^__^
So 15 years ago we were aware that some things were best kept away from baby, even if we ourselves  probably grew up with those things.

And now we know even better!

2010 : I live in a country where I was told "organic" food came forth  in 2005. In 2007 Organic and Health Food Markets opened and even a Blue Square label for Organic products was created. In 2007 too  Baby Organic and Tinok Yarok israeli organic clothing lines were born.

Three years later I can tell you that I have no idea what the Blue Square is. I have never noticed it. I do know where to get organic or bio food, though I am not real clear on what it means: food without any pesticide and chemicals? Food that is being grown with methods that are naturally well-suited for the local area and not negatively impacting the land?  It does sound better than industrially-made food where I visualize a noisy, machine-controlled factory and I do buy organic eggs picturing chicken able to run freely in country farm environnement.. Yet those eggs are also enriched with omega 3 and frankly I do not know how or when they are enriched? And they cost more. And for some reason I prefer buying those. But that is me.

Same goes with Sophie the giraffe.
She is perfectly safe for both the environnement and our babies but not everyone is convinced.
She is Phthalates and Bisphenol A free.
The Phtalates issue is fairly recent worlwide and some will see it as a gimmick. The Bisphenol A issue is new to us '"common people", not so new to scientists. In 1930’s the first evidence of BPA toxicity was observed. Not much was done after that. But with time some companies did take action, like Vulli in the French Alps  "home" of Sophie la girafe.
As you understand  it is very hard to avoid bisphenol A, it is the starting material used to make polycarbonate plastics. It is everywhere and we have all been exposed to it. But why start exposing babies from their first days when it can be avoided? We have always known that babies are more fragile than grown-ups, that children under the age of two are very susceptible to lead poisoning which has long term effects and as parents, we have to protect them to our best to insure them a healthy beginning on Earth.

Sophie hagirafa is very new in Israel, barely a month old and it will take some time to have people know her and recognize her and if  I succeed, it will be my own private "Tikkun Olam", my tiny-tiniest contribution to make the world a healthier place.

Encounter of the best and the not so good

Those past days I have been zigzaging like a bee in search of flowers with Sophie The Giraffe, Chan, Pi and Gnon in tow. Except that I was not looking for honey but for homes for Sophie & friends. I had a list of stores to go to and all were expecting me. All were quite allright on the phone too. Only a very few of them had heard of Sophie HaGirafa before.

Armed with a  friendly smile, a laptop and a huge bag I greeted every store-owner and was ready to make my speech and answer their questions.
Overall the response was good: most are willing to give Sophie a chance but with only small amounts to start with because they do not know how it will sell. Fair enough! Sophie Hagirafa is not an household name. I give all of them cute brochures to help them remember what is so special about Sophie and her 3 mushroom cousins and a poster to put in their window. This is how we concluded our meeting both sides happy ( I hope!)

But I must say that a couple of store-owners really stand out in my mind. And not to their benefit. It  reminds me of the teacher who always says he remembers the very best and the very worse of his students. Well I have not had the pleasure of meeting my "very best" customer yet but I certainly did meet the very worse so to speak.
They had a similar attitude: borderline arrogance mixed with a narrow mind. You must understand, I know some store-owners will never be interested in Sophie & co for various reasons such as costs, appeal of the toys, similar toy range etc...and that is totally legitimate and we will part our ways in very polite even friendly terms... like Mister M. who wrecked his mind to find more stores for me to visit as his was not suitable. I will always remember him fondly and one day hopefully will drop by to say hi!
But those .... well I even wondered why they wanted me to come!!!!!!!  Clearly a waste of time for them... less for me because that is part of the job.
Basically they were not interested in my presentation, they had decided from the start, as soon as I held up Sophie that I am bringing pure plastic that can be found in the shouk ( for those of you who are not sure what shouk is, I found this great description: A place of mystery and smells and spices and mess and noise and movement...maybe irritation.. BUT DONT MISS IT...and dont rush it ! Flea market, fruit market, shouk, souk, shuk..   personnally I love going to the Shouk too! It is full of life, smell, colors, shouts, it is fun!)
So they saw Sophie, they decided it is pure plastic and who am I to say otherwise and that it is not right for their customers , not to mention  it is sooooo overpriced.

Sophie overpriced?  I heard that a lot and started asking around.
How many teethers does a mother usually buy for the baby? Answer: usually 3 or 4-- or more. Anything to make Baby less fussy during teething! One is kept in the fridge, one is bought because of the shape and color, another one because baby "ruined" it , some are very cheap , some are more expensive etc.

One Sophie Teether  ----  Bisphenol A or BPA free --- costs the price of 2 "regular" teethers or two packs of Eco-Friendly Diapers. So yes the initial cost is higher. It is reality that she does not suit nor interest everyone too.
Sophie Ha Girafa is not cheap because we pay for the quality (no Baby can ruin Sophie), for the fact that she is made of natural rubber and non-toxic mineral paint (she is completely safe) and *sigh* for all the taxes to get her in the country, to have her checked and approved (how I wish we did not have to pay those all the time!).
So on one hand I feel sorry for those persons who were not able to listen and discover a new product, but on the other hand why would I want Sophie ha girafa or the cute Chan, Pie and Gnon sold among other toxic baby products and be treated as one of the common toy?
Between you and me, believe-me: she is not! *wink*

Shouk Ha Carmel