Review on 🔶 HABA First Blocks: Engaging Visual and Acoustic Surprises for Ages 1 and Up (Made in Germany) by Ivani Domenech

I bought Haba toys for my child because I was convinced that they were safe children's toys made in Germany. Because of this, I didn't hesitate to pay extra for these blocks. So I was shocked to find that the red rattle in this set contains a large amount of arsenic, while the blue cloth cap contains a small amount of bromine. (My kid loves to chew on this hat). Overall, this toy is rated HIGH for toxicity by HealthyStuff.org. Some Haba toys have toxicity level 0, but unfortunately this block is not one of them. I threw away two poisonous blocks, but that made the set pretty uninteresting and overpriced. ***UPDATE*** I contacted Haba about the high toxicity of these blocks. Here is the answer I got; Thank you for taking the time to write to us. You are obviously a very educated and empathetic parent and I applaud you for that! At HABA®, we really appreciate parents like you. As a mother of two children and "aunt" of 11 other children, I can empathize. Our parent company HABA in Germany was the first toy manufacturer in Europe to voluntarily send our products to an independent testing laboratory for testing many decades ago. Mr. Habermaas is still the owner of the family business and is now a grandfather himself. You can find out more about HABA under [.] in the "About us" section. In fact, in 2008, after massive recalls of Chinese-made goods, many other European and American toy manufacturers decided to exit the US market. HABA didn't do that, we actually passed the new CPSIA legislation that President Bush enacted just before the end of his term. Of course, this new law was a major financial burden for all manufacturers and retailers of children's products, but HABA persevered. In fact, our lead levels were already lower than the legal requirements, so we had to change very little. HealthyStuff.org and other advocacy groups like this don't have the resources to ship all toys to independent CPSC-authorized labs, so they buy the equipment themselves and do a lot of their testing at home. These tests are not as perfect as in a laboratory. In doing so, HABA adheres to the CPSIA law and all the products we import are tested accordingly and these certificates of compliance are readily available on our website. a kit for older children to use to create architectural designs for balls to roll on) contained a harmful chemical. This interest group is capitalizing on consumer fears and posting their lists of the worst toys around the holidays. In fact, we had evidence that the marble was safe and that no chemicals that the marble could contain were actually in a state that could be absorbed by the human body, even if ingested. In this case, we actually spent money hiring an attorney and Healthstuff.org had to retract its findings. Did you also know that HABA still makes all of our wooden building blocks, which we know are most likely to be used in children's toys? mouth, in Germany? It would be much cheaper for us to do what all other companies are doing and move our production to China, but Mr. Habermaas and our company philosophy is to remain a German company at least in relation to our wood products. We cannot find any textile companies in Europe that produce our textiles or home accessories, but we are constantly looking. We have also opened our own office in China, so our employees check our manufacturing partners in China on a daily basis. Other than that, our first few blocks are safe. This product passes all the necessary tests and continues to be a bestseller for us. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us. Obviously, your satisfaction is our number one goal. ************** After getting this reply from you I changed my rating from 1 star to 3 stars. In the end, each parent had to decide for themselves who and what to believe. It takes forever to build a company's reputation and it only takes a second to destroy it (unfortunately, scaremongering works too well, justified or not), and I'd like to give Haba the leap of faith. The reason for the three stars is that these blocks are more vulnerable. with a man than with a child.