Porous materials and germs: I've read countless times that only glass, silicone, metal and possibly ABS plastic are non-porous and able to be cleaned perfectly. Everything else can harbour mold and bacteria in its pores and should be thrown out after x uses.
But nowwhere have I read what happens when one soaks one of those porous toys in alcohol for half an hour (the vet tells me that alcolhol does disinfect skin if left on long enough - a quick wipe just before the injection is basically useless). Or how about boiling the whole toy for half an hour (or longer)? Microwaving it?
Secondly, the disintegration/decomposition of non-silicone soft toys: It's been reported often enough that "plastic" toys (not true silicone ones) melt together when they are in contact with each other. People have drawn the conclusion that these toys are therefore not body-safe. But I know for sure that my clit/vagina/rectum are not made from plastic! Just because two chemicals react with each other does not mean that either of them reacts with a a third substance... So what does actually happen to a rubber toy in/on my body?
There's apparantly a great number of students among the forum members - anybody in biology or chemistry who'd like to do a few tests? I'm sure there's quite a few subjects for end-of-term papers, master's thesis or even dissertations...
There haven't been such studies on sex toys because people are prudes but there are lots of studies similar to that for child's toys/chewing on them. It's not identical and mostly focuses on phalyrates mostly but it is there.
It wouldn't be possible to boil/bleach/disinfect the porous toys without ruining them. No, of course we're not made of plastic, and we aren't going to melt, but it's the process that occurs in these materials that causes the melting that's the issue. TPR-TPE toys for example, are plastics which have been softened using an elastomer. The elastomer used to soften is often a mineral oil. Over time, toys can leach out these oils, which is seen when they become oily, sticky, tacky etc. If a sex toy changes how it looks, feels, smells, that's very bad! They can also release toxic gases, depending on the their composition. Phalates in sex toys is really bad. There's a whole host of info out there on it. You may of read about water bottles, and the health problems they can cause because of the material they're made of ... The science behind plastics etc applies to whatever the plastic is made into, it doesn't need to be a sex toy specific experiment.
Laughable that people are prudes hence no study on sex toysđ
Medical grade silicone has been used for years on the human body so I guess that material has been studied. Stainless steel has been used on the human body for years so I guess that material has been studied.
Glass toys are all fit for purpose. Because sex toys are sold as a novelty item they are exempt from strict testing. Maybe to please the customer this is a possible reason we are finding more use of glass, silicone and stainless steel in sex toys.
Glass toys are all fit for purpose. Because sex toys are sold as a novelty item they are exempt from strict testing. Maybe to please the customer this is a possible reason we are finding more use of glass, silicone and stainless steel in sex toys.
Well, medical testing and certification is expensive. That cost will be directly transferred to customers and those who care about quality/safe toys will already be using those glass/metal/silicone/wood toys that are safe. Those who care about cost, who typically use the jelly/latex/gross toys, aren't going to change
It wouldn't be possible to boil/bleach/disinfect the porous toys without ruining them. ...
That's what I read all the time. But not a single time have I read "I've done this and this is the result". If you can render dodgy meat fit for eating by cooking it I don't see why you couldn't disinfect a rubber dildo by boiling it.
...Because sex toys are sold as a novelty item they are exempt from strict testing. ...
I don't think the whole "novelty item - external use only" thing flies in Europe. As far as I know EU product liability law, every item needs to be safe for its intended purpose. No exemptions for sex toys... The importer is the party to be held responible in case of non-compliance with regulations, like wrongly naming the material. Which is why I trust that all silicone toys sold by LH are really made from silicone and don't do burn tests...
There is no escaping false advertising but the fact that toys are sold as novelty items they follow the same rules/testing as appropriate for novelty items.
Well, medical testing and certification is expensive. ...
Hence my call to self-confident students with lab access and the required knowledge... I mean, what do microbiology students examine for their practice-based papers?
Thermal disinfection achieves high level disinfection when surfaces are in contact with heated water for an appropriate length of time. Shorter times are required at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. Draft International standards will precipitate changes to conditions required for disinfection by thermal means using circulating hot water in a mechanical cleaning machine. AS 4187 will include the following instrument surface temperatures and times for washer/disinfectors:
The whole 'novelty item' is a bit misleading. It's nothing to do with tests carried out in, the item HAS to be fit for purpose, because we live in a world whereby, if it isn't, the company will be sued. The FDA factors into it, because they'd deem a sex toy to fall into a medical category, if it wasn't a novelty item. Medical products require all sorts of certification etc, to be exported/imported around the world. A sex toy manufacturer in China for example, would hit huge issues trying to ship items 'deemed' medical, and different import counties would have their own requirements. 'Novelty item' disclaimers make things easier all round
That's not how research works really. Undergrads have pretty much zero real research or experiments to do, masters have some, but usually little "choice" in what they actually do and PHD students don't have the time to waste on something that's a lot of work but of little importance for publication/thesis. You can't just "do some research". You have to submit proposals for finding (using a lab is expensive), fill out risk evaluations (handling used sextoys can be dangerous from an std stand point) and fully justify why you need to do it. Fundamentally speaking these effects have been shown with porous medium, it doesn't matter if it was inside you or sat in your fridge, the result is the same, so the research is basically worthless.
The ânovelty itemâ get-out is not used by all manufacturers. Fun Factory certainly made an issue in their advertising and on the packaging that they are NOT novelty items but intended to be used as sex toys.
There was a very funny article published some years ago comparing the volume sales of washing machines with vibrators and from this pointing out that less than 50% of the electrical items used for women's sexual satisfaction were kite-marked.