From June 7th to 8th, 2025, Toxics-Free Corps participated in the "Forest Slow Travelogue" Jingcao Carnival held at Xishan Forest Park in Beijing.

This eco-cultural event, themed "GO FOREST, FOR REST," brought together organizations and the public from the fields of environmental protection and public welfare. Toxics-Free Corps presented two sessions: "Public Welfare Testing of Consumer Products" and "AI Interaction on Children's Shoe Safety," engaging with citizens, parent-child families, and environmental enthusiasts to discuss chemical safety issues in everyday products.

Figure 1: Photos of Toxics-Free Corps booth

150 Public Welfare Testings: Making Risks in Everyday Products Visible

With equipment and technical support from Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co., Ltd., on-site engineers used handheld XRF spectrometers and handheld FTIR infrared spectrometers to provide on-the-spot chemical safety screening for everyday products brought by the public.

Over two days, we completed 150 sample tests. Sample types included children's toys, stationery, jewelry, tableware, kitchenware, and footwear. Many citizens brought commonly used household items to the testing station, hoping to find out if they posed any potential chemical risks.

The test results showed that most samples did not have obvious abnormalities, but some noteworthy cases were found on-site. For example, the thermos cups given as gifts by relatives and friends were not made of 304 stainless steel; phthalic plasticizers were detected in the plastic dolls given as gifts with purchases; and some children's sandals also tested positive for phthalic risks.

These results remind us that the safety of everyday products cannot always be judged from their appearance, price, or brand image. Children's products, freebies, and low-priced plastic products may still pose easily overlooked chemical risks.

Figure 2: On-site public welfare testing

Children's Shoe Safety: From Problem Investigation to AI Tools

Children's shoes have been one of the key product categories that Toxics-Free Corps has been focusing on for the past three years. Since conducting an independent survey on children's shoes in 2023, we have found that the children's shoe market still has problems such as chemical substances exceeding national mandatory standards, unclear product labeling information, and non-standard labeling of implementation standards.

To help the public better understand the risks of children's shoes with excessive phthalate levels, we collaborated with artists to create the "Baby Bunny Children's Sandals Installation." Based on children's sandals found to contain dangerously high levels of phthalic plasticizers in a real investigation, the installation uses magnification, distortion, and highly saturated colors to convey the unease that chemical risks can cause. This installation is not intended to create fear, but rather to make parents aware that not all shoes that look cute, soft, and suitable for children are necessarily safe.

Figure 3: "Baby Bunny Children's Sandals Installation"

Meanwhile, Toxics-Free Corps is also exploring the use of AI tools to lower the barrier for consumers to understand product labels. At the event, we showcased AI interactive functions related to children's shoe safety, including "Checking Public Opinion on Children's Shoes," "Reading Children's Shoe Manufacturer Labels," and "Reading Children's Shoe Quality Inspection Reports." Parents can upload children's shoe hangtags, manufacturer labels, shoe box labels, certificates of conformity, or quality inspection reports provided by merchants. The AI assistant will help identify whether the implementation standards are applicable to children's shoes, whether the label information is complete, and whether there is any risk information that needs attention in the inspection report.

Nearly 100 families participated in the experience. Some parents said that in the past, the standards, materials, and testing information on shoe boxes and tags were difficult to understand, but the AI tool made this professional information easier to comprehend.

Bring consumer product safety education to public settings.

This event also showed us that consumer product safety education can't be confined to reports, articles, or laboratories. It can also take place in public spaces like forest parks, in interactive sessions with parent-child families, and in children's questions about testing equipment, children's shoe kits, and science brochures. When the public brings their water bottles, toys, shoes, and tableware to the testing station, the chemical safety issues in everyday products transform from abstract concepts into concrete experiences that can be seen, questioned, and discussed. For Toxics-Free Corps, the significance of public welfare testing goes beyond simply providing consumers with results; it's about using those results to help the public understand and identify risks, and ultimately, to demand safer and more transparent products from businesses, platforms, and the market.