Ban on toxic toys gets Senate nod

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

If final bill remains unchanged, phthalates will be banned from toys and child-care products

Proposed legislation introduced early last week by Dianne Feinstein (D, CA) to ban phthalates from toys and other products intended to be used around children passed a Senate vote later in the week, on March 6. The amendment to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act was hailed by Jeanne Rizzo, R.N., executive director of the Breast Cancer Fund, which had sought public support for the measure.

“We applaud Senator Feinstein’s leadership to protect our children from dangerous substances,” Rizzo said in a statement. “This legislation will … give parents the peace of mind that they are not inadvertently giving their children toys that may expose them to unsafe chemicals linked to dangerous health consequences.”

Phthalates are commonly used as plasticizers—in this case, chemicals that convert polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from a rigid to a flexible form of plastic. They are likely to be found in all forms of flexible plastics, from rubber ducks to sex toys.

Since the House and the Senate now have different versions of the reform legislation, they must appoint a conference committee to work out a single version of the bill. Readers are urged to contact their congressional representatives to urge them to see that the ban on phthalates is included in the final version.

Passage of the CPSC Reform Act with the Senate’s version of the amendment would put the United States in the company of the state of California and at least 32 nations, including those of the European Union, in banning phthalates from children’s products.

Unfortunately, since regulations in the United States do not require labeling of products containing potentially toxic substances, prior to this legislative ban there was no possible way for parents to be certain which toys were or were not phthalate-free. If the final legislation remains unchanged, parents will be assured of being able to select phthalate-free toys.


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