Feb. 11, 2009: RIP Toxic Toys
Beginning today, American consumers can buy thousands of plastic children’s toys, dolls, teethers, and other consumer products without having to worry about the items containing harmful toxic chemicals which are linked to serious reproductive abnormalities in children.
The chemicals, called phthalates, are used to make rubber products softer and can be absorbed by children through their mouths or skin. The chemicals may interfere with the body’s reproductive hormones in children, causing permanent and severe damage.
In 2008, the United States banned the use of the chemicals in items designed for children, with the ban set to go into effect today. It was long overdue, but nonetheless, a great step toward better protecting our children from exposure to harmful, toxic chemicals.
It Almost Didn’t Happen
Due to some last-minute legal wrangling by toy makers, millions of toys containing banned chemicals nearly were allowed to stay on store shelves past the deadline. Toy makers claimed a legal loophole meant the phthalates ban only applied to toys made after the deadline and that contaminated items already on store shelves could stay there.
Not so fast, cried consumer rights groups, who filed a lawsuit seeking to clarify the meaning of the new law. Just days before the ban was set to take effect, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe sided with the consumer groups and said the law required that no toys containing phthalates could be sold past the deadline, regardless of when they were made.
Toy companies complained they would be forced to pull tens of millions of dollars worth of products from store shelves if the law applied to all toys rather than just newly made toys containing phthalates. The judge said, in effect, that’s too bad but that the health and safety of children has no price.
Phthalates Still Used In Other Products
While they have been banned in most children’s products, phthalates are still widely used in a variety of consumer goods, most commonly construction materials. The chemicals are used in the manufacturing of PVC, a material used in plastic plumbing pipes, electrical wiring insulation, flooring, shower curtains, and other products. Therefore, while toys were the most direct threat to children, parents should still be vigilant in an effort to limit their children’s exposure to phthalates.
BPA Is Not Banned
It bears mentioning here that another controversial and hotly debated chemical additive commonly often linked to serious children’s injuries is not part of the phthalates ban now in place. Bisphenol A, also called BPA, is a material used to make some baby bottles and other clear, hard plastics more shatterproof. BPA differs from phthalates and the use of BPA has not been banned by the United States, although Canadian officials have outlawed baby bottles containing the chemical over fears about developmental damage to children.
U.S. regulators have said BPA is safe when used at currently approved levels, but promise to continue monitoring research about the effects of exposure to BPA in children.
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