Toxic teletubbies? Po
(who has a PVC mouth) will no longer be so
poisonous in the EU under new laws banning
phlalates from toys.
05/07/2005 — Before now, bad Barbies, toxic
Teletubbies and rotten rubber ducks could
have been slowly poisoning small children.
The very chemicals that made these toys so
soft and tempting to teething toddlers have
been shown to damage organs in animals. But
the European Parliament has banned manufacturers
from using six of these toxic chemicals, freeing
Europe from many toxic toys for good.
Back in 1997 we tested a wide range of popular
PVC plastic toys, such as rubber ducks, dolls
and baby's teethers and showed that they contained
dangerous chemicals. We tested more toys in
spring 2005, and found that Spiderman Flip
'n zip and Mattel's Barbie "Fashion Fever"
contained high levels of harmful phthalates.
(Looks like she was suffering from more than
Fashion Fever).
A bitter battle ensued while the chemical
and toy industries fought hard to prevent
today's decision - but the forces of good
have finally won out.
The case of the toxic toys shows how slow
the current process for regulating chemicals
is, and the urgent need for a much stronger
law.
Europe is the world's largest chemical producer
and yet the majority of chemicals manufactured
and used everyday have never been properly
tested. For those that have been tested and
found to be toxic, it can take years for them
to be controlled; and even then they can still
sometimes be used in consumer products.
The EU is currently preparing a new chemicals
law called REACH, which aims to ban or control
a wide range of dangerous chemicals used in
all EU products. But the chemical industry
has already succeeded in getting most of the
100,000 chemicals currently in use excluded
from the rules.
We are campaigning for all industries to
stop using hazardous chemicals and to replace
them with safer alternatives, a process called
'substitution'.
However if you want to be absolutely sure
that the toys you buy are safe, avoid anything
containing PVC or vinyl because laws are still
not tight enough on these kinds of plastics.
We should be able to trust industry not to
produce dangerous chemicals and manufacturers
not to use them. But it seems they won't clean
up their acts unless we force them to. If
you want your Toy Story to have a happy ending,
make a difference by shopping wisely and choosing
environmentally sound products.
