Remove toxic products from shelves
1
Investigation into phthalate content in PVC children's sandals
On May 29th, Toxics-Free Corps released the results of its 2025 survey on phthalate content in children's sandals. The results showed that 25 of 50 pairs of PVC children's sandals sampled from five major e-commerce platforms—Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin Mall, and Kuaishou Mall—exceeded phthalate levels, bringing the overall phthalate exceedance rate to 50%, with the highest exceeding the standard by 509 times. Toxics-Free Corps provided consumers with purchasing recommendations for children's sandals, along with a list of products found to meet and exceed phthalate standards in the investigation. The organization also launched a public submission campaign for children's sandals.
Since 2023, Toxics-Free Corps has conducted survey on the phthalate content in children's sandals for three consecutive years. The phthalate exceedance rate has dropped from 88% in 2023 to 50% in 2025. It is believed that this is closely related to the governance of the local market supervision bureau of the manufacturer and e-commerce platform.
We learned that after receiving tips from the media, Jieyang Municipal Administration for Market Regulation in Guangdong Province conducted a surprise inspection on a company in Jieyang involved in the Toxics-Free Corps survey. The relevant shopping platform immediately removed the products involved from the shelves and stopped selling them. At the same time, it organized a comprehensive survey and rectification of the plastic sandal industry.
2
Results of child anti-collision strip survey released
In June, Toxics-Free Corps published a shocking report: Formamide levels in anti-collision strips exceeded the standard by 100%.
3
21 children's products inspection activities
In June, Toxics-Free Corps partnered with the Ivy League Institute for Sustainable Development in Xicheng District, Beijing, to test 21 parent-provided children's products, including toys, shoes, and stationery. The tests examined the limits for hazardous elements like phthalates and boron.
Green E-commerce Action Alliance
1
Green E-Commerce Action Alliance holds strategy workshop
From June 26th to 27th, the Green E-Commerce Action Alliance successfully held a strategic workshop in Suzhou. The workshop systematically reviewed ESG fundamentals and detailed the year-long goals, action paths, and division of labor for two joint initiatives (encouraging e-commerce platforms to provide product sustainability information and evaluating e-commerce performance on key environmental issues). Participants also reached consensus on the core concepts of the joint initiatives. Furthermore, participants learned how to use stakeholder analysis tools.
AI Products and Services
1. Knowledge base construction
From May to June, the team continued to optimize the knowledge base, further expanding and improving the children's shoe knowledge base, covering basic usage and purchasing advice, implementation standards, and public opinion information (such as unqualified products inspected by the Market Supervision Bureau and company recalls). At the same time, they actively conducted internal testing of new AI Agent, focusing on interpreting prompts for children's shoe factory labels and quality inspection reports, as well as continuously optimizing the large model to improve function accuracy and practicality.
2. The Agent function of Toxics-Free Corps AI assistant is officially launched.
On June 10th, the upgraded version of the Toxics-Free Corps AI Assistant 2.0 was officially launched, introducing three Agent button functions for children's shoes: "Check public opinion on children's shoes", "Read factory labels on children's shoes" and "Read quality inspection reports on children's shoes", supporting parents to provide accurate interpretation and judgment of photos and texts such as children's shoe tags, factory labels, shoe box packaging labels, certificates of conformity and quality inspection reports provided by merchants.
As of June 30th, 2025, the three new Agent functions have accumulated nearly 800 conversations and attracted nearly 500 new users, and their popularity continues to rise.
For more details, please see: Toxics-Free Corps AI Assistant upgrades Agent function, children's shoe safety at a glance
3. The Toxics-Free Corps AI Assistant officially joins the Sustainable Living AI Assistant Network initiated by the Six Feet Lane Charity Foundation
Amidst the challenges facing the environmental protection public welfare sector, AI technology presents new opportunities for public welfare. Toxics-Free Corps, leveraging its expertise in sustainable living, promoting consumer avoidance of toxic products, and its active exploration of AI assistants, has been selected as a partner of the Sustainable Living AI Assistant Network.
Public Events
1
Shenzhen Amazon Smart Hardware Science Popularization Event
On June 4th, Toxics-Free Corps presented a special science popularization presentation titled "Bringing Product Safety to Children" to 80 employees of Amazon Smart Hardware in Shenzhen. The presentation focused on children's product safety and food contact material safety. Hu Yongling and Wen Ruihuan detailed potential safety hazards in children's products, such as inferior materials, lack of labeling, and low prices. They also used real-life examples to remind parents to prioritize the safety of children's products. The presentation also introduced national standards for food contact materials and emphasized the risk of hazardous substances being released from these materials during daily use. The science popularization event significantly enhanced employees' awareness of product safety.
2
Jingcao Carnival Science Popularization Activities
From June 7th to 8th, Toxics-Free Corps participated in the annual Jingcao Carnival held in Beijing's Xishan Forest Park, bringing "Public Welfare Testing of Consumer Products" and China's first "Children's Shoe Safety AI Smart Interaction" to the event, and engaging in in-depth dialogue with citizens and environmental colleagues concerned about health and safety .
Over two days, we tested 150 samples, ranging from children's toys to stainless steel spoons in the kitchen, covering a wide range of items, including children's toys, stationery, daily necessities, accessories, and tableware. We also conducted discussions with an estimated 500 citizens.
For more details, please see the event review: 48 hours of light and shadow in the forest of Toxics-Free Corps: 2025 Jingcao Carnival
3
Environmental Protection and Reuse Day Science Popularization Activities
From June 21st to 22nd, core volunteers Qi Yuting, Tan Yiting, and Yang Han, along with corporate volunteers, participated in the Environmental Reuse Day (market) held at Poly Shiguangli (Taojin) in Guangzhou, sharing scientific knowledge about chemical substances with environmental enthusiasts from all over the country. They received a lot of feedback from citizen partners: "Chemical safety issues deserve great attention."
1
At BRS COPs 2025, we successfully held a side event with multiple institutions on the theme of "Synergies and Trade-offs Between Energy Transition and Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste in China"
A side event to the 2025 Conference of the Parties to the BRS conventions (BRS COPs 2025), titled "Synergies and Trade-offs Between Energy Transition and Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste in China," was held at the Geneva International Conference Center in Switzerland from 18:15 to 19:45 Geneva time on May 5th, 2025 (00:15 to 1:45 Beijing time on May 6th, 2025). The event was hosted by Shenzhen Zero Waste, co-organized by the All-China Environmental Protection Federation, Xingche Environmental Protection, SEE Foundation, Fujian Green Walker, and Airman, and supported by the Beijing Representative Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Germany). Participants shared insights on the current state of the industry, end-of-life policies, and China's practices regarding used power batteries, wind power equipment, and photovoltaic equipment, and discussed the problems and challenges faced. Approximately 20 attendees, including representatives from various countries, observers, and other stakeholders, attended the event.
Event review link: "Synergies and Trade-offs between Energy Transition and Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste in China" side event was successfully held in Geneva, Switzerland
2
Cooperated with SEE Blue Defenders to hold the BRS COPS 2025 Conference Sharing Salon
On May 27th, 2025, Toxics-Free Corps and SEE Blue Defenders jointly hosted the BRS COPs 2025 Conference sharing salon, attended by over 20 participants. The salon covered the basic details and negotiation outcomes of the BRS Asia-Pacific preparatory meeting and the official Geneva conference, along with participants' participation in both conferences, the content and interactions at the side events and booths at the Geneva conference, and participants' visits to outdoor exhibitions, botanical gardens, and dinners. Participants from both conferences also shared their experiences, insights, inspiration, gains, and plans for future work.
3
Organize discussions and submissions on the draft Ecological Environment Code
On May 27th and June 4th, two discussion sessions were held on the draft of the Ecological Environment Code, during which several organizations discussed proposed amendments to the draft articles on chemical management, new pollutant control, and some waste management. Based on these suggestions and in combination with other related suggestions from their own work, several organizations submitted.
4
Cooperated with SEE Blue Defenders to organize PFAS detection method training
On June 5th, Toxics-Free Corps and the SEE Blue Defenders project team jointly organized a training session on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) detection methods. The session was presented by Ms. Lin Fengling, Technical Director of Hohenstein Testing and Certification (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. She introduced PFAS control requirements in Europe and the United States, as well as the latest PFAS detection methods, including total fluorine and specific PFAS.
1
Self-media operations
#Operation of "Toxics-Free Corps" WeChat official account (May-June): 39 articles published, 1,373 new users;
#According to incomplete statistics as of the end of June, the total number of readers of Toxics-Free Corps's self-media operations on all platforms has reached more than 900,000.
2
Brand influence
The investigation into the PVC children's plastic sandals garnered widespread media and public attention on June 1st, International Children's Day. It topped Sina Weibo's trending search list on June 2nd and was even covered by CCTV. According to incomplete statistics, 5,629 related reports were collected from May 29th to June 18th (excluding Weibo and video accounts).
Related reports:
CCTV.com: These "toxic slippers" can easily cause children to develop premature puberty! Throw away any at home
China Environmental News:
https://www.cenews.com.cn/h5hjb/news/news.html?id=1383730&nav=1
Upstream News:
https://wap.cqcb.com/shangyou_news/NewsDetail?classId=7788&newsId=5862203&staticUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ft.cqcb.com%2F5fYEk
Yihe Science Popularization: What happened in the children's "toxic" sandals incident?
3
Channel Cooperation
1. Jointly launch a voting campaign on children's shoes
On May 30th, Toxics-Free Corps and Phoenix Public Welfare launched a voting campaign on the children's shoes issue, which attracted the participation of more than 1,500 members of the public.
2. Jointly launch the AI Thousand-People-Image-Recognition Campaign
On June 12th, Toxics-Free Corps, Tencent SSV Carbon LIVE, Phoenix Public Welfare, Beijing Zhangxin Social Service Center, and Doctor Yihe launched an AI-powered Thousand-People-Image-Recognition campaign to quickly "check" 1,000 pairs of children's shoes, building a safety and health protection line for children.
Related reports:
Phoenix News-Public Welfare
https://ishare.ifeng.com/c/s/v002M7he1K7HV83vGXw7tnfcXQwVHtN61fLIEs3zmxXH26Y__?spss=np
Dr. Lin, a pediatrician: Are your child's shoes safe? Are they toxic? This tool can easily identify them.
Yihe Science Popularization:
https://3g.k.sohu.com/t/n898081955?serialId=4488195823c07f4b20bd466891cf5e86
Public Fundraising
1. Monthly donation
As of June 30th, our monthly donation project [Delivering Products Safely to Children] has received a total of 101,680.77 yuan; the cumulative number of donations has reached 2,308, with the support of 174 monthly donors.
2.Crowdfunding
As of June 30th, our crowdfunding project [Give Children a Healthy Future] has received a total of 56,127.59 yuan and 2,511 donations. The investigation into high-risk infant and children's products is ongoing.
