X Posted in Waldorf Forum--EVI dollhouse dolls PVC!!!

[Dana Bottari]

So, I ordered my son the EVI dollhouse doll set family to go with the Ostheimer Farmhouse that I purchased for christmas.  I opened up the package of dolls, to put in a box with tissue paper, and immediately upon opening, I smelled a chemical smell.  I was confused because I had read everyone raving about these dolls and how great they were.  Then I noticed the small tag attached to each doll that read, "Wool fleece, Wire isolated with PVC, and plastic buttons."  I emailed the company I purchased these from, stating that I wanted a full refund. They never mentioned this on their website and the outer package doesn't list it either, which is very misleading! So now the question is: "What dollhouse dolls DO NOT contain any PVC or other toxic materials?"  Does anyone know about the Kathe Kruse dollhouse dolls?  I am thinking that will be my next choice if everything checks out ok.  Thanks!

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[Dana Bottari]

  The PVC is covering all of their dollhouse dolls, it seems.  Apparently this is some kind of new regulation that the store I purchased them through wasn't even aware of.  This is the response I received from the store I purchased them from:

Hello,

Thank you for your email and bringing this to our attention.

We have checked with the manufacturer and due to the new toy safety laws all wire now has to be coated in plastic for the safety of the children. The plastic coated wire is deeply embedded in the dolls and it gives the dolls their flexibility: the coating prevents the wire from penetrating the cloth. It should at no point be exposed on any of the figures. But you are right, we neglected to see that this new precaution was made by Evi Dolls and we did not indicate this on the web site something we have now rectified.

However, the PVC is NOT deeply embedded in the dolls.  It's a rather thick piece of plastic covering the wires of the moveable parts of the dolls.  All that is covering it is thin cloth fabric.  I will look into the Ostheimer dolls, thanks.

[LeeDeeDee]

It's not a concern, as Franz from Evi Dolls writes (translated from the Portuguese):

"As the wireframe wrapped in PVC I have no option. We knew that in certain circles PVC is seen as a highly dangerous materials and sent to an individual test of this structure in accordance with the standards for toys in the lab SGS-Brazil, international accreditation.  According to the Appraisal Report this lab the level of phthalates (which is the villain of this story with PVC) in our wireframe is so small that is well below the reference table." 

Their dolls also meet the testing for European Union EU-71 and are sold by Grimm's Spiel und Holz in Germany.

It's good to be cautious, but given the above, I don't believe that we need to worry about the PVC-coating on the wire frame in the Evi Dolls.  Both the Brazilian lab and the EU testing that Grimm's must have had done to import them will be testing for limits that, as with children's safety, are many times well below the suspected safe levels.  As Evi Dolls says, in the Brazilian lab, the level of pthalates tested was well below this level, that itself would be many times lower than that deemed safe.

Testing and regulations for children's toys are very strict and very cautious.  If it is passing these tests in Brazil and Germany, I don't think it is a problem.