When sex toys turn green — for health, that is

Spendier options
One of the most popular alternative materials is silicone. Not only are silicone toys phthalate-free, but surgical grade silicone is dishwasher safe and practically indestructible. Still, there is a downside.

Phthalate-containing materials are used not only because they can be soft and pliable, but because they are cheap. Toys using them tend to be on the low end of the price scale. Silicone toys can be expensive by comparison because they can be difficult to manufacture and the material costs more. Tantus, a California-based company, for example, makes a wide range of high quality silicone toys. But vibrator prices start at around $50 and run up to $116.

Most cheaper sex toys are made in China by one of five large American companies. But the “brouhaha,” as Longhurst terms it, is forcing them to adapt. In business, perception is often more powerful than the facts, so even before the verdict on phthalates and humans is in, most big manufacturers are offering silicone versions of some toys, in addition to glass, metal and elastomer rubber (something like the neoprene in wet suits) that are phthalate-free.

“In two years’ time, there will be fewer products with phthalates on the market,” Longhurst predicts. “But there will still be a demand for the cheap-and-cheerful jelly vibrators and dildos. Manufacturers and retailers that are progressive and who want to improve will phase out use of phthalates. There are plenty of better alternatives.”

Lack of oversight
Regardless of how the debate over phthalates works out, there is an interesting side story about how consumers of sex toys have taken the initiative. There is no government oversight of sex toys because, officially, sex toys aren’t meant to be used on people  — they're “novelties.” So neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor Food and Drug Administration has any oversight of their marketing or manufacture. And there seems to be no official research by government or universities on sex toy manufacturing or ingredients. Because of this, there’s no way to be sure how much of the chemical there is in a particular sex toy.

Both manufacturers and retailers, and probably most sex toy consumers, like not having the oversight for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that nobody wants to give the government any control over sex. So sex toy consumerism exists in a parallel universe, trying to find its own way. Now that it is dealing with a science question, though, it is faced with the need to conduct some research.

So the non-profit Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco is about to launch its own testing program with the aid of chemists. Whether or not it will arrive at any reliable answers remains to be seen, but the move, and the larger discussion about the quality of sex toys, shows average consumers are not just willing to talk about vibrators and dildos — still illegal in some places, like Alabama — they are now demanding quality from adult toys just as they do from toys intended for their children.

Brian Alexander is a California-based writer who covers sex, relationships and health. Alexander, also a Glamour contributing editor, recently traveled around the country to find out how Americans get sexual satisfaction for the MSNBC.com special report "America Unzipped" and for an upcoming book for Harmony, an imprint of Crown Publishing.

Sexploration appears every other Thursday.

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