Environmental groups seek ban on chemical used in soft vinyl toys
DATELINE: PORTLAND, Maine

Environmental groups are calling for a ban on soft vinyl toys that contain a
chemical they fear could cause liver and kidney damage.
The groups want the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban toys that
contain di-isononyl phthalate, or DINP, when they are intended for children
under 5. The petition by the National Environmental Trust and 11 other
groups also asks for a national health advisory on DINP. The Maine Toxics
Action Center, the Maine Peoples Alliance and the state chapter of the
National Environmental Trust are part of an effort.
DINP makes plastic more flexible and is used in soft toys like some teething
rings and squeeze toys. Its use in children's toys has been banned in Japan
and the European Union.
The environmental groups say the chemical poses a risk to children who put
the toys into their mouths.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommended last month that the
petition for a ban be denied because there is no scientific evidence that
the products present any health risk.
"The gist of it is that we do not see enough exposure to rise to the level
of a health risk," said Ken Giles, a commission spokesman.
Giles said an outside panel examined a number of issues, including the
likelihood that the chemical would leech out of the plastic, the estimated
ingestion by children who put the toys in their mouths and how often and how
long children would put the toys in their mouths.
Marian Stanley of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, called
the campaign by environmental groups "a scare tactic" that is part of a
larger agenda to end the use of PVC plastic, which is made using chlorine.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said children were exposed to
one-fifteen-hundredth of the daily acceptable intake level of DINP, Stanley
said.
"That's a minute amount," she said.
But Thomas Natan Jr., research director for the National Environmental
Trust, said the study was flawed because the voluntary ban instituted in
1998 created an artificial situation.
Most teething rings are now made of hard plastic, he said, so there is no
way of knowing how long children would chew on a softer product.
While tests by environmental groups indicate that most teething rings sold
by major retailers no longer contain DINP, bath and squeeze toys do, he
said.
Natan said that a denial of the proposed ban could be interpreted by toy
manufacturers as a go-ahead for the use of DINP and that the chemical could
start showing up in teething rings and other toys again.
Voluntary agreements by the industry are flawed, he said. Tests by his group
have found that some toys still contain DEHP, a chemical that the industry
voluntarily banned in 1986.Copyright 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.

Portland Press Herald
December 12, 2002 Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: LOCAL & STATE; Pg. 1B
LENGTH: 690 words
HEADLINE: Petition claims squeeze toys pose threat;
Three Maine groups join a national effort to ban soft vinyl toys containing
DINP.
BYLINE: MEREDITH GOAD Staff Writer
BODY:
Maine environmental groups are calling for a ban on soft vinyl toys that
contain a chemical that makes plastic more flexible.
They say the chemical is a danger to small children, who are exposed to it
when they put soft toys like teething rings and squeeze toys into their
mouths.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is expected to decide soon on a
petition by the National Environmental Trust and 11 other groups to ban toys
intended for children under 5 that contain di-isononyl phthalate, DINP. The
petition also asks for a national health advisory. The Maine chapter of the
National Environmental Trust, the Maine Toxics Action Center and the Maine
Peoples Alliance are joining the national effort to convince the commission
that the toys should be outlawed because the DINP in them could pose a risk
of liver and kidney damage.
"A lot of companies have voluntarily already taken it out of teething toys,
toys that are made to go into children's mouths," said Jesse Graham, toxics
director of the Maine Peoples Alliance. "But they still put it in other
things. The most common thing out there are bath books. Certainly, kids will
still put those in their mouths and chew on them."
DINP has already been banned in toys in Japan and the European Union. The
staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommended on Nov. 8 that
the petition for a ban in this country be denied because there is no
scientific evidence that the products present any health risk.
"The gist of it is that we do not see enough exposure to rise to the level
of a health risk," said Ken Giles, a commission spokesman. "And it's not
just we who have come to that conclusion. We actually had an outside panel
of experts look at the whole story - the toxicity of phthalates, the
likelihood that they will come out of the plastic, the estimated ingestion
by children who put plastic toys in their mouth. We even did an
observational study of children chewing on toys, believe it or not, and we
measured how often and how long children put the plastic toys in their
mouth."
The observational study showed that children do not have the toys in their
mouths long enough to expose themselves to dangerous levels of DINP. Even
when the researchers assumed that a pacifier - which is not made of vinyl
but is in the mouth for prolonged periods - contained the chemical, they
could find no health risk.
Marian Stanley of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, called
the campaign by environmental groups to ban DINP in soft vin yl toys "a
scare tactic" that is part of a larger agenda to end the use of PVC plastic,
which is made using chlorine.
"The staff report that the CPSC did, as a matter of fact, said that children
are exposed to one-fifteen-hundredth of a level that was found to be an
acceptable daily intake" of DINP, she said. "That's a minute amount."
But Thomas Natan Jr., research director for the National Environmental
Trust, said the observational study done by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission was flawed because the voluntary ban instituted in 1998 created
an artificial situation. Most teethers are now made of hard plastic, he
said, so there is no way of knowing how long children would chew on a softer
product.
Tests by the environmental group show that most teethers sold by major
retailers no longer contain DINP, but bath and squeeze toys do.
A denial of the proposed regulatory ban could be interpreted by toy
manufacturers as a stamp of approval for DINP, he said, and the substance
could start showing up again in teethers and other toys.
As long as DINP is allowed to stay in toys, he said, "there is every reason
to expect that some children are going to be exposed to DEHP."
Bob Ray, owner of Northern Sky Toyz in the Old Port, said although plastic
is "a good thing," he thinks it's best to err on the side of caution and
keeps soft vinyl toys off his shelves.
"I think that there are so many choices for good toys in the marketplace, if
there is evidence that the chemicals in these specific types of toys can
leach out into children's bodies, why put them at that risk?" he said.