Last month in Canada, Dr. Carolyn Bennett, a Liberal Minister of Parliament, sent a letter to the Conservative Federal Minister of Health, Leona Aglukkaq, expressing concern about the sex toy industry and asking the government to take action in regulating sex toys.

The letter, which you can read in its entirety here, read, in part:

I am writing to express my concern for the urgent need for responsible regulation in the adult toy industry. In Canada, we are not yet doing enough to protect women against the very high concentratuons of materials linked to reproductive and other health issues.

… Our current legislation is insufficient. There are safe alternatives to pththalates and [bisphenol A] that are readily available.

It sounds like a good idea, right? Like they say on Facebook: It’s Complicated.

I’m gonna turn it over now to Cory Silverberg, blogger at About.com’s Sexuality Guide, who’s written about this topic at length:

In order to regulate sex toys first one needs to define the product category for proposed regulation. What qualifies as a sex toy? Currently in the U.S. sex toys are defined legally in some states (often as devices intended for genital stimulation). But they don’t exist as a defined category by health regulators. The same is true for many other countries where the term “sex toys” won’t be found in legal or regulatory documentation.

Even among sex toy retailers and manufacturers terms like dildo, vibrator, penis ring, butt plug can mean very different things. Is a sex toy defined by how it’s intended use? How it’s commonly used? Is a sex toy defined by who uses it or what kinds of bodies it gets used on? There is no generally agreed upon taxonomy of sex toys. There isn’t even an organization or body (public or private) that would be in a position to develop such a taxonomy.

But until we’re there, I’m certainly not comfortable with a government deciding what is and isn’t a sex toy, and regulating the products they think are while ignoring the products they decide aren’t.

And that’s just the beginning. Read his impassioned piece Why Government Regulation of Sex Toys Is a Bad Idea.

I’m with Silverberg on this one. I believe in educating consumers and leaving the government out of as much as humanly possible. But then, I’m a conservative. That’s just how we roll. Or used to. Yeah, yeah.

Those earth-loving peeps, they’re all over the place fighting to make sure we don’t screw up ourselves or this fine planet completely. Having made strides in green living from noms to cars and light bulbs, they’re now moving into the bedroom.

Here is the latest in healthy alternatives for your loving pleasure:

TOYS

A surprising amount of sex toys contain phthalates (which only looks scary to pronounce–say it like this: “thalates.” Good job), PVC softeners that have been found to inhibit endocrine, which some studies have linked to premature puberty in girls and low sperm production in boys.

As a result of health concerns, many companies are working to produce non-toxic alternatives.

Among the many companies hitting the market are Earth Erotics, who also make that killer recycled rubber whip we showed you a month ago.

LUBES

Have you ever read the back of a bottle of lube? I’ll admit I didn’t until long into my 20s. Lube was something I judged based on how it felt–like most everything relating to sex. And then, I did it. I’ll tell you one thing: I wish I hadn’t. Dicksoftenus maximus.

Lucky for us, there’s now a booming industry of lubes devoted to stamping out scary petrochemicals and parabens: aloe lubes, shea and cocoa butter lubes, and all-natural lubes.

My personal favorite all-natural lubricant? Extra virgin organic coconut oil. You can pick it up at any organic market along with your groceries. Smells great, tastes great, doubles as an unparalleled massage oil and leaves your skin feeling delicious.

Remember one thing when shopping for your new top-notch eco-sex lube (and this goes especially for the coconut oil): some products are oil-based and not latex-compatible. Make sure that you and your partner or partners have been tested for STIs and there’s another form of birth control in place before engaging in unprotected sex or sex that mixes latex-incompatible lubes and condoms.

BIRTH CONTROL

We’ve told you about vegan condoms, which replace the milk protein casein in latex condoms with a non-animal alternative. And for the super socially-conscious, there is French Letter, which offers an array of fair-trade rubber condoms.

Information from The Times of India and our own fountain of genius.

The D.C. Council Committee on Health recently conducted a survey of D.C. high school students attitudes about sex ed, which found that students are unimpressed with the curriculum. Surprise, surprise.

What is most interesting about this study to me is not so much that most teens think talking to a school nurse is like talking to their mom, but that they think Durex condoms are lame.

According to The Washington Post:

Durex condoms, the brand widely distributed by the Health Department under a contract, are considered lame and more likely to pop or break, students said. They said they prefer Trojan or Magnum.

Youths “have very strong opinions about particular brands of condoms,” the researchers wrote. “These opinions . . . factually correct or not, play an important role in a youth’s decision to use a product.”

Are you listening, Durex?

Consumer Reports tests all kinds of products to ascertain their reliability and safety. Recently, they performed a test on 20 different brands of condoms:

The condoms that received a perfect score are:

• Durex Performax
• Lifestyles Ultra Sensitive Lubricated
• Lifestyles Warming Pleasure
• Trojan Her Pleasure Ecstasy
• Trojan Magnum Lubricated
• Trojan Ultra Ribbed Ecstasy
• Trojan Ultra Thin

Now you know.

Thumbnail image by Courtney Walker, tip from Oz Sultan, results via Tampabay.com.

You can’t swing a Fendi in this town without hitting two vegans, so it makes perfect sense that people are taking their sex habits on the bandwagon. Presenting: RFSU condoms (RFSU stands for Riksförbundet för sexuell upplysning, which Swedish for Association for Sexuality Education).

Their condoms are certified vegan by the nonprofit Vegan Action. Vegan? Yes, vegan. See, latex employs casein, a milk protein. Vegan condoms don’t use casein or any other animal product.

A package containing three condoms will run you approximately $6.00. Nom nom nom. No milky goods for you of any sort.

Image by RFSU.