Making Toys Safe

How New Technology is Helping Toys Stay Clean

By Justina Huddleston
January 2011

Every parent worries about their child coming into contact with germs— and what objects gather more germs than toys? Passed around between children, chewed, thrown on the ground— toys get very dirty, but the unique shapes and materials used in their design can make toys difficult to clean. However, according to research done by TDmonthly Magazine, new technology has been developed that could help toys stay cleaner, longer.

A hospital in Liverpool has been coating the toys in its wards with a unique "liquid glass" that reduces the number of disease-causing bacteria living on the surface of objects. Made by the German company Nanopool, this material has been found to reduce the amount of bacteria found on high-contact items in hospitals, sometimes by more than 50 percent. This eco-friendly solution to preventing bacterial contamination in hospitals could very well make the transition to toys. "With the consistent deployment of our technology the propagation of bacteria can be lowered both substantially and sustainably," said Sascha Schwindt, Nanopool's managing director. Unlike a traditional cleaning solution, once this material is applied to an object it stays cleaner, longer.

30 percent of bacteria are now resistant to antibiotics. By taking preventative measures such as coating toys in this bacteria-resistant material, the health risk that dirty toys can present to children could be greatly lowered. Nanopool still has some trials to run before this technology is readily available, but in the meantime, TDmonthly is going to continue to follow this promising development.