Now people are worried about toys too. PVC Poly vinyl chloride is in many toys and plastic bottles in the home. Consumer groups are pushing to have these toys removed from the market. That idea is gaining traction. Already the European Union has banned the chemical and California moving toward that too.
After recalling millions of toys to protect consumers from lead paint, toy makers face growing pressure over another material, a plastic found in myriad playthings, from balls to dolls.
The Toy Industry Association, the manufacturers' trade group, says polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, in toys poses no safety risks. Still, retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Sears Holdings Corp. have started programs to get rid of some of the toys and other products that contain PVC, bowing to pressure from environmental activists concerned that children who chew on PVC could ingest dangerous chemicals. Some of these chemicals have been banned in the European Union and will also be illegal in California under a law effective next year.
Vinyl Chloride causes cancer. The most concentrated exposure is in the workplace. That is the problem with the toy exposure claim. The exposure is low.
Depending on how it is made, PVC frequently contains lead or other toxic metals. Vinyl chloride, used to make PVC, has been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a carcinogen. Certain chemicals in the phthalate family, which often are used to soften PVC in toys and other products, have been linked by researchers to developmental and other health problems in children.
Exactly how dangerous PVC is to people is disputed. In 2003, the Consumer Product Safety Commission denied a petition by environmental groups to ban PVC in toys. The commission said it didn't believe children chew on PVC toys long enough to cause harm.
Here is some information from the article talking about phalates and some studies on that exposure.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has warned that phthalates like those used to soften plastic have been known to cause cancer in rats, and hormonal and developmental disruptions in children's reproductive organs. A study of 96 baby boys in Denmark and Finland published in 2005 found that those fed breast milk from mothers who had ingested higher levels of phthalates had less testosterone at three months of age than boys exposed to lower levels. It wasn't known how the mothers had ingested phthalates.
Another study, published in December, of 102 Bulgarian children aged 2 to 7, said that those exposed to a certain phthalate in dust were more likely to experience wheezing problems. Researchers are still trying to determine how these chemicals can enter a child's system.
Antonia Calafat, chief research chemist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says, "What we know is that phthalates at very high exposure levels result in adverse health effects in animals."
Source: WSJ.com
