Michael Braungart, German chemist most famous for the Cradle to Cradle concept and co-authorship of the book 'Cradle to Cradle - Remaking the Way We Make Things', made accusations of terrorism against Mattel at last week's 'Lets Cradle' conference in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Covering the conference for Celsias (more on the conference itself in another post) I was present when Professor Braungart shared with the audience a chemical analysis of Mattel's Polly Pocket off-gassing, labeling the toy as a 'weapon of mass destruction' and comparing the company's actions to 'child abuse'.

"Mattel is definitely the worst company I can imagine. ... This is a company who really destroys the health of children systematically for 50 years. ... You don't need to go to Iraq. When you look for chemical weapons, here they are! These are weapons of mass destruction. This is a problem of homeland security, because when you are not able to protect your children against toxic chemicals, what do you do then? This is terrorism. Innocent children exposed to toxic substances. The chemical intake from this offgassing is far more than a child would get at any gasoline station. So, its not designed for children. (...) We have analyzed them for 15 years. It is not anyhow that they make mistakes sometimes. Everybody makes mistakes. There is a culture of destruction. It is a culture of making profit and not respecting children." - Professor Michael Braungart

This is not the first time Braugart has made these accusations, having made similar statements at at least one other presentation back in 2005. And the fact is, Mattel has issued over 30 recalls of its products since 1998, 10 of them just this year, affecting millions of toys.

Considering this information, I have to say that the words "tip of the iceberg" suddenly spring to mind. I can't help thinking that if this is what we know, I don't even want to imagine what we don't know. So, hmm... tell me... are you still buying Barbies for Christmas?