Open about sex | Silicone saved the industry: From toxic rubber smell to can be boiled in a pot, the 50-year evolution of safe materials for sex toys.

Hello, I'm your sex toy.

That odorless, smooth "little toy" in your drawer-the one you can scald with boiling water-have you ever seriously considered why it's so safe?

The answer isn't in the regulatory documents. It's in a dark basement in Brooklyn in 1972.

A paralyzed Black immigrant was bent over, stirring several large vats of viscous, translucent liquid. It looked like he was conducting a dangerous chemical experiment. In reality-he was doing something unprecedented: the world's first silicone sex toy that could be safely inserted into the body.

And everything similar you could buy before that, frankly speaking-wasn't as clean as your kitchen dish sponge. Today's article, from a materials science perspective, will give you a complete overview of this fifty-year history of safety evolution.

I. What's with that "rubber smell"?

Readers often ask us: "I bought a cheap vibrator, and when I opened it, there was a pungent plastic smell. I washed it three times, and it's still there. Is it safe to use?"

The answer is: Don't use it. That smell is the material screaming, "I'm toxic!"

Did you know that sex toys are legally classified as "novelty items," not "instruments that come into contact with human mucous membranes"? This means they are subject to less stringent material safety regulations than the rubber duck your child plays with.

Let's go back a few decades. Sex toys were basically made of three things: natural rubber, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and "jelly-like glue." Their common characteristic is-porousness. Under a microscope, their surfaces are riddled with craters, like the moon. These invisible pores absorb bodily fluids and breed bacteria. You think you've washed it clean, but bacteria have already made their home inside.

Even worse are plasticizers. To soften the rigid PVC, manufacturers add phthalates. In some cheap sex toys, this substance can be as high as 70%-meaning that your "jelly-like" toy is 70% chemical plasticizers.

Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors, linked to reproductive toxicity and developmental impairment. The EU banned three types in children's toys in 2004. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also has strict regulations on children's products.

But sex toys are not children's toys. They are subject to even less regulation than rubber ducks.

"That 'rubber smell' isn't the smell of natural rubber; it's a mixture of volatile compounds from plasticizers, stabilizers, and residual solvents. Your nose is issuing a warning in the most primitive way."

And there's more. Some rubber sex toys from the 1940s had steel springs embedded inside to maintain rigidity. When the rubber aged and cracked, the springs were exposed-this wasn't a sex toy, it was a hidden weapon.

In other words, before silicone, the "safety standards" for sex toys were practically nonexistent. Porous materials harbored bacteria, plasticizers could be carcinogenic, and springs could cause injury-this was "normal" in that era.

II. How did a repairman with a broken spine become the "father of materials" in this industry? The previous history was quite suffocating. Now, let's change the subject-tell a story about someone who truly changed everything.

January 1965, Chicago. Gosnell Duncan-let's call him Duncan-was working the night shift at the International Harvester plant. A temporary welder.

The day shift workers forgot to put in the retaining pin. A truck lathe fell from its shelf, crushing him. His spine was crushed. He was permanently paralyzed from the waist down and lost his erectile function. He was 37 years old, with a wife and four children.

Duncan didn't break down. He joined the disability rights movement.

1971, a disability conference in Indianapolis. There was an open discussion on "Sex and Disability." The moderator asked the audience, "If there were a suitable product, would you buy a sex toy to satisfy your sexual needs?"

Hands shot up.

A truth selectively ignored: disabled people also have sexual needs and sexual rights. And Duncan discovered-there wasn't a single product on the market that a paralyzed person could safely use.

Duncan bought and studied every sex toy on the market. The conclusion: none of them met the standards.

Natural rubber-melts when heated and cannot be sterilized. PVC-porous, pungent, and cannot be truly cleaned. Gel-like material-contains high levels of plasticizers, with unknown risks from long-term contact. Moreover, they all came in only one color, a "flesh-pinkish white," assuming the user was white.

None of them were safe for someone who needed long-term contact, had more sensitive skin, or required strict hygiene.

However, Duncan had engineering knowledge. He had worked with silicone rubber while repairing cars-heat-resistant, stable, and non-reactive. He contacted a chemist at General Electric (GE). The two spent nearly a year repeatedly adjusting the formula. In 1972, the world's first skin-safe silicone sex toy was born.

Duncan founded Scorpio Products in a Brooklyn basement. His products redefined what "safety" meant:

The four major breakthroughs of the first medical-grade silicone toy:

First, non-porous-bacteria cannot enter, and it will not become a bacterial culture medium.

Second, odorless-it has absolutely no smell when you get close, zero volatile chemical emissions.

Third, heat-sterilizable-it can be tossed into the top rack of a dishwasher or boiled directly for thorough sterilization.

Fourth, retains body heat-it gradually warms upon contact with skin, unlike PVC which remains constantly cold.

He also did something no one in the industry dared to imagine at the time: producing products based on four real skin tones. For the first time in the history of sex toys, a person with dark skin didn't need to buy a "pink-flesh" dildo. He also designed a mouth-holding style for quadriplegic individuals and a special strap for users wearing catheters.

"One person, a basement, a few barrels of silicone-he pushed the safety baseline of this industry forward by an entire era."

The starting point of this material revolution wasn't a business plan or a VC pitch. It was a man with a broken spine who, with no other choice, solved the most fundamental problem of "no safe products available" himself.

As an aside-we specifically researched Duncan when writing this section. Before his death in 2017, in his last interview, he said, "I just wanted something that wouldn't hurt me." It was that simple.

III. Silicone is More Than Just "Silicone"-Platinum Curing vs. Regular Silicone: Why is "Medical Grade" So Valuable?

The story is over. Now let's get to something more practical-how to tell if the silicone you have is truly safe.

This part is a bit dry, but please read on patiently-it directly relates to your safety every time you use it.

You might ask: Is there only one type of silicone? Why do some "silicone toys" cost tens of dollars, while others cost hundreds or thousands?

Let's put it this way: silicone is a large family. What determines its safety is how it's "cured"-the scientific term "curing method." There are mainly two types on the market: peroxide curing and platinum curing.

Peroxide curing uses organic peroxides as catalysts. The reaction produces byproducts-acetophenone, cumulol, and organic acids. These substances slowly seep out of the material. Especially when in contact with body temperature and moist environments like mucous membranes.

What about platinum vulcanization? It uses platinum complexes as catalysts. The byproducts of this reaction are zero. The chemical formula is perfectly balanced, resulting in a pure polydimethylsiloxane network. It's completely clean inside; no small molecules can escape.

Peroxide-cured silica gel vs. platinum-cured silica gel-understand it all at once:

First, byproducts: Peroxides leave chemical residues; platinum leaves none.

Second, odor: Peroxides may have a sour smell; platinum is completely odorless.

Third, long-term stability: Peroxides will yellow and become sticky; platinum does not change color after three years.

Fourth, biocompatibility: Peroxides generally do not pass USP Class VI / ISO 10993; platinum can.

Fifth, can it be boiled: Peroxides are not recommended; platinum can be boiled freely.

Sixth, price: Peroxides are cheaper; platinum is two to three times more expensive.

Translated into plain language: Peroxide-cured silicone – after use, there are still "seasoning residues" left inside. Platinum-cured silicone – after use, it's just a basin of clean water.

In other words, medical-grade silicone that truly passes USP Class VI and ISO 10993 biocompatibility tests is almost always a platinum-cured system. These tests examine whether the material will kill cells, cause allergies, or irritate the skin. [8]

Here's another way to tell by sight. Cheap "silicone" will turn yellow, become sticky, and have a sour smell after a period of use – that's peroxide byproducts escaping. Real platinum-cured silicone will remain the same color after three years and have no smell at all.

To put it bluntly, the only drawback of platinum-cured silicone is its price. But when it comes to "putting it inside the body," saving that money is really not worthwhile.

I suggest you save this part for later. Next time you buy a toy, ask customer service three questions:

First, does it have a smell? Real platinum-cured silicone is completely odorless.

Second, can it be boiled in water? Genuine medical-grade silicone is heat-resistant and sterilizable.

Third, is there a biocompatibility test report? Look for USP Class VI or ISO 10993 certification.

If all three are answered "yes," you can be basically assured. If you can't answer one, try another company.

IV. From basement workshops to ISO international standards-how the materials revolution reshaped the entire industry

Duncan made the first safe silicone product. But it took almost thirty years for silicone to become mainstream in the industry.

In the global sex toy market in the 1990s, gel and PVC were still the absolute kings. The reason was simple: cheap. A gel vibrator cost less than two dollars to manufacture, while silicone was several times more expensive. When consumers didn't know the concept of "material safety," price determined everything. [9]

The turning point came at the turn of the century. Several key moments:

First, in 1998-Metis Black founded Tantus, the first to launch "medical-grade silicone" as the core selling point of the brand on a large scale. Second, in 2005, Smitten Kitten in Minnesota became the world's first retail store to publicly declare that it "does not sell toys made of toxic materials." The founders also formed an "Anti-Toxic Toys Alliance" with other retailers. [6]

Third, in the 2010s, "body-safe" went from niche slang to mainstream consumer standard. A surge of educational content on material safety appeared on social media.

Fourth, in 2021, ISO launched the world's first standard specifically for sex toys, ISO 3533. It included anti-jamming design, temperature limits, and biocompatible material requirements. [10]

The logic of the Smitten Kitten team was simple: if you wouldn't dare hold a piece of material in your mouth for half an hour, you shouldn't put it in any other mucous membrane. This wasn't a moral declaration-it was just basic hygiene common sense.

Let's be clear: we are not saying that all products labeled "silicone" on the market are safe. "Pseudo-silicone" products mixed with large amounts of fillers still exist. Sex toys are still not a subject of mandatory regulation in most countries worldwide. The FDA only regulates those explicitly labeled "therapeutic use," and the CPSC lacks specific safety standards. ISO 3533 is also voluntary-not mandatory.

But the direction is clear.

Consumers are voting with their wallets-more and more people are asking, "What materials are they made of? Can they be boiled?" Brands are responding with materials-platinum-cured silicone has gone from "high-end niche" to "standard quality."

This safety baseline, which began with Duncan's basement mixing bucket, is being raised layer by layer by more and more people.

Look back at that scene in 1972. A paralyzed Black man, in a basement no one wanted to enter, was doing what no one else wanted to do. Not for money-if there was nothing on the market that he could use, he would make it himself.

Fifty years later, in the multi-billion dollar global sex toy industry, "medical-grade platinum-cured silicone" has become synonymous with quality. Smitten Kitten advertises "No toxic toys." ISO has issued its first standard. One man's basement experiment changed the underlying code of an entire industry. If you have a tasteless, smooth silicone toy that's been with you for a long time-take a good look at it for three seconds tonight.

It's quiet and says nothing.

But behind this thing is the stubbornness of a man with a broken spine who refuses to say "never mind."

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