Here’s the actual ‘study’ if anyone’s interested.
External Link/Members OnlyWhile not minimising the possibility, the alleged ‘harm’ is rather theoretical.
Danger levels of toxicity are based on standards developed for children’s toys that might be placed in the mouth for long periods.
While they do draw attention to some false advertising, there is no data I can see where the microplastics in sex toys are directly related to harm caused. Nor, if we take standards developed for safe children’s toys and the amount of prolonged contact they might have is that related to sex toy usage.
They say more than 50% of people have used a sex toy at least once: but “once” would unlikely to be harmful. There is no guess about how often they might be used. Nor is there any adjustment for the effect of a given quantity of microplastics on adults as opposed to children.
Compared to adults, children are much more vulnerable and sensitive to phthalates exposure, especially during early growth. Exposure to phthalates in the modern world is almost impossible. (Not putting food in plastic containers in the microwave is a reasonable way of probably reducing intake.)
External Link/Members Only is a better quality study to get an overview.
Interestingly as an aside ( from their miscellany of largely unrelated data) gay and LGBTQ apparently as a demographic use them more than heterosexuals.
Nearly half of U.S. heterosexual men (in a survey of 1047 men aged 18–60) and over half of heterosexual women (in a survey of 3800 women aged 18–60) reported using a vibrator at some point in their lives. Prevalence within the LGBTQ population is higher still, with 70.6% of lesbian women, 79.7% of bisexual women, and 78.5% of gay or bisexual men reporting using vibrators and other sex toy products.
