Monday, June 23, 2008

What Chemicals Are in Your Child's Car Seat?

Do you know how many chemicals are in your baby’s car seat? When a new baby arrives, every one of us is looking for the best car seat that would protect our little one from a possible accident. But it does not cross our minds that actually by placing them in that thing, we give them everyday an exposure to undesired chemicals. Well, it is very upsetting but it is true.

HealthyCar.org tested various popular child car seats (infant, convertible, and boosters) for bromine, chlorine, lead, and other chemicals (antimony, arsenic, chromium, copper, nickel, mercury). The overall car seat rating (from 0 to 5) indicates the level of concern associated with the materials in the car seat, 0 – lowest concern to 5 – highest concern. The car seats with the low concern and high concern are listed below, but for a full report go here. The nice thing is that if you do not find the car seat you are using on the list you can request the testing for free here.



Low Concern High Concern
Infant Graco–SnugRide Emerson (8465EME3)
Evenflo–Discovery Infant Churchill (3911698)
Graco–SnugRide Lindsey (8465LRD3)
Graco–SnugRide Family Tree (8645FMT2)
Peg Perego–Primo Viaggio Toffee (P73RU46)
Combi–Centre EX Mango (808660)
Convertible Cosco–Scenara 5-Point (22120POL)
Safety 1st–Alpha Sport (22452RB)
Eddie Bauer–Deluxe Convertible Hampton (22740HPN)
Eddie Bauer–3 in 1 Convertible Montecito (22759MTT)
Graco–Toddler SafeSeat (Step 2) (8B00BDR)
Graco–ComfortSport Convertible Watercolor Flowers (8C03WCF)
Cosco–Alpha Omega Elite (22155BDF)
Britax–Marathon Platinum (E9LO6B9)
Boosters Evenflo–Big Kid No-Back Gold Dust (3331703)
Eddie Bauer–Summit Booster Astoria (22862AT1)
Britax–Parkway Express (E904157)
Graco–TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) Glory (8693GLY)
Graco–TurboBooster Emily (8498DEH) 5
Graco–TurboBooster SafeSeat (Step 3) Athens (8674ATH)