The Prague Post
October 11th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

Toxic for tots

Dangerous chemicals found in kids' products from China

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 19th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
NGO Arnika randomly tested six items for phthalates. The "Happy Frog" raingear showed dangerously high levels.
VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Arnika's Miroslava Jopková leads a campaign to raise public awareness of dangerous children's products sold countrywide.
Made in China

Children's products that exceed the Health Ministry content limit of 0.01 percent toxic phthalate
Yellow beach sandals:
35.8 percent. Distributed by Debens, bought at Debenham's, Wenceslas Square
"Happy Frog" raincoat & matching hat:
23.8 percent. Distributed by Great Wall Group s.r.o., bought at Esse Myslbekova market, Děčín
Inflatable life saver:
life saver 22.7 percent, mouthpiece 0.014 percent. Distributed by Alltoys, bought at Tesco, Národní třída

Source: Arnika

Despite heightened international concern and tighter legislation, high-risk children’s products are still finding their way into the hands of toddlers.
Local nongovernmental organization Arnika recently found toxic levels of phthalates in five types of children’s products commonly found in pharmacies and supermarkets nationwide.
Used as softening agents for hard plastics, phthalates have been found to damage the reproductive system and cause birth defects.
Prompted by recent occurrences of harmful toxins in consumer products in Europe and the United States, Arnika conducted a series of tests in cooperation with the Testing and Certification Institute Zlín (ITC), an independent consulting center for quality control of consumer products.
The tests, completed in early September, showed phthalate levels well surpassed legal limits in popular brands of children’s raincoats, sandals and infant nasal aspirators.
Although a 2001 Health Ministry regulation caps the legal limit of certain harmful phthalates in children’s products at 0.01 percent, three of the eight products Arnika tested contained phthalate levels exceeding the limit by more than 21 percent.
“We’ve submitted a complaint about these three products to the Czech Environmental Inspectorate,” says Arnika’s phthalate awareness campaign director Miroslava Jopková. “We intend to use these tests results to lobby for a change in legislature.”
While he says larger distributors are making an effort to adhere to the Health Ministry’s regulations, ITC Chemistry and Microbiological Analysis Laboratory Director Jiří Samsonek, who tested the products, says the laws are disregarded by independent discount vendors, whose transient inventory makes safety control difficult.
“These types of products are often sold in open-air markets and discount stores, where the importers aren’t able to stabilize the quality of the products they carry,” Samsonek says.
Although the government has regulated phthalate levels in children’s products since 2001, Arnika has recently registered illegal phthalate levels in products made in China, where financial pressures drive manufacturers to use the cheapest possible plastic softeners.
“After the 2001 ban, most manufacturers began substituting phthalates with other types of softeners,” Samsonek says. “But, among these types of manufacturers, no one is monitoring it.”
Perilous plastics worldwide
Arnika’s discovery is the latest in a saga of failed inspections raising international concerns about the safety of Chinese-made products.
Last month, U.S. toy producer Mattel issued a worldwide recall on millions of miniature cars, dolls and action figures suspected of containing toxic levels of lead paint. In the Czech Republic, the company recalled more than 25,000 Polly Pocket play sets, which appeared on toy-store shelves in 2005 and 2006. The play sets contained small magnets that could easily be swallowed by small children, Marie Kadlecová, Mattel’s spokeswoman in the Czech Republic, told the Czech News Agency Aug. 14.
While recent mass recalls have brought the issue into the public spotlight, the presence of harmful substances in children’s products has been a long-term problem for watchdog organizations as well as the government.
“Since last year, the media have brought the presence of toxic chemicals in consumer products to the forefront of public awareness, but this isn’t a new issue,” says Jan Freidinger, toxins campaign director for international environmental watchdog Greenpeace. “Our organization has been dealing with phthalates for the past 10 years.”
Concerns about increased occurrence of toxins in children’s products have also been voiced by the European Commission. In a Sept. 12 address to the European Parliament, EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva urged member states and companies to “raise their game on enforcement at a national and local level.”
Outlining a two-month plan to address toy-safety mechanisms, Kuneva stressed cooperation with Chinese authorities.
“Of course, there are outstanding questions in this regard,” she says. “For example, whether operators are [reacting to problems quickly enough] or whether China’s national enforcement bodies are following up on 100 percent of these problems.”
Spurred by the Europe-wide concern over illegal phthalate levels, the Health Ministry initiated a series of inspections this year, targeting certain types of plastic consumer products. Since the beginning of the year, the ministry collected 134 items, including dolls, rattles and pacifiers.
“Of the tested products, 27 samples failed the inspection,” says Health Ministry spokesman Tomáš Cikrt. “Seventeen of these products were targeted at children under 3 years old.”
Unlike organizations such as Arnika and Greenpeace, who warn against phthalates found in plastic children’s products such as shoes, hats and raincoats, the Health Ministry says the long-term risks of exposure to phthalates in clothing are minimal.
Although he acknowledges Arnika’s concerns that phthalates can enter the bloodstream through skin pores or by inhalation, “the only way a child can be exposed to a significant, harmful amount of phthalates is through oral contact with plastics softened by phthalates,” Cikrt says.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


Other articles in News (19/09/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.