Toying with Toxics

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Toying with ToxicsA Brush with ToxicsAn
investigation of lead and cadmium in soft
plastic toys in three cities in India andLead
in paints in India

• Ravi Agarwal
• Toxics Link
• www.toxicslink.org
• (pl. see website for full reports)

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Heavy Metal Exposure Sources for Children

• Mercury
• Household thermometers
• Vaccines
• Traditional use - parad
• School labs
• Food
• Air Emissions

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• Lead
• Paints
• Air
• Re-suspension from Dust and Soil
• Food and water
• Ceramics
• Toys and other products

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Global Toy Market

• Global toy market of the order of US105.0
  billion.
• USA is the worlds biggest importer of toys
  imports worth US35.0 billion
• Germany, 18 of the world market (US19.0
  billion), Hong Kong 13 (US14.0 billion),
  Britain 7 (US8.0 billion) France 6 (US 6.5
  billion).

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Heavy Metals in Toys
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Indian Toy Market

• Unorganized sector dominates.
• estimated US 1.0 billion organized sector
• US1.5 billion - unorganized sector.
• More than 1000 units in the small-scale sector
  larger number in the cottage sector.
• Large players like like Mattel, Lego, Funskool
  also present
• Soft toys account for 35 of total production of
  toys. Mumbai and Delhi - 95 of the toy output
• Imports flood cheap toys market (est70 )

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Users of low cost soft toys Urban Poor -
Children

• In India
• nearly 130 million children below six years of
  age
• More than 6 million children in urban slums (16.4
  per cent of the total child population???)
• Hence every sixth urban child in the age group
  0-6yrs a slum dweller.
• 0 - 6yrs
• Greater Mumbai - 0.86 million (13.2 of citys
  total child population )
• Delhi - 0.3 million (16.2 of citys total child
  population )
• Chennai - 11.5 (of citys total child
  population)

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Soft Plastic Toys

• Cheap
• Unlabelled
• Mostly plastic and PVC
• Vividly painted, pigmented

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Soft Plastic Toys
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Usage practices

• Toys have paint which chips, rubs off etc.
• Children chew, swallow, suck etc.soft toys.
• Parents save toys for next child aging of toys
• Old soft toys are burnt gaseous releases of
  pollutants like dioxins and heavy metals.

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Study Objectives

• To ascertain the total content of lead and
  cadmium in soft plastic toys (mostly PVC)
  collected from the three metropolitan cities of
  Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai
• To understand the usage pattern of such toys and
  the potential risks involved.

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Sampling

• 111 cheap soft plastic toy samples were randomly
  purchased from markets in three metropolitan
  cities in India.
• 60 from Delhi,
• 30 from Mumbai
• 21 from Chennai.
• These urban markets served the needs of
  surrounding sub-urban and rural areas.
• Only non-branded samples were purchased in the
  price range of 30c to 3 USD

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Sampling Locations
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Lab Tests

• Ascertain type of plastic
• Beilstein Test (for the presence of Cl)
• Ascertain total Pb and total Cd content
• Delhi Test House NABL Accredited (National
  Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration
  Laboratories, Department of Science and
  technology, Government of India)

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Key Findings

• 77 of 111 samples were of PVC plastic ()
• Pb and Cd were found to be present in all tested
  PVC samples in varying concentrations.
• Overall average concentrations
• Lead 112.51 ppm
• Cadmium 15.71ppm
• Range
• Lead- 0.65 ppm to 2104 ppm
• Cadmium - 0.016 ppm to 188 ppm.

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Lead exceeds US EPA and CPSC Standards

• Total lead standards as defined by these agencies
• EPA 600 ppm in painted toys
• CPSC 200 ppm in vinyl blinds
• Of 30 samples analysed for total concentration of
  Pb and Cd in toys brought from Mumbai, eight
  samples showed concentration 200 ppm.
• Five samples (approx 20 percent) showed very high
  lead concentration - from 878.6 ppm to 2104 ppm
• USEPA - 16CFR 1303
• Consumer Product Safety Commission - USA

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Comments

• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has adopted
  European Union standards on bio-availability of
  lead and other heavy metals which is only
  voluntary in nature.
• No toy manufacturer in India has taken license
  from BIS. Compliance evidently only for export.
• Possibly similar situations exist in South Asian
  region.
• Internationally limits only for separate heavy
  metals and vary.
• Total exposure to children not accounted for,
  along with other chemicals leaching.

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• No study in India on heavy metals or toxics in
  soft plastic toys - overall only very few.
• Consumer awareness is probably very low.
• Organised sector needs to be studied as well

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Lead in Paints

• A study of branded paints in India
• A source of lead in toys

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Study details

• 69 Paint samples - 38 water based and 31 enamel
  (oil based) from Mumbai and Delhi
• All major brands - 7
• Analysed for lead content in Delhi and cross
  checked in US laboratory

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Findings

• 38 of all samples contain lead over 600ppm
• In enamel(oil based) paints all except one brand
  had over 1000 ppm of lead (83.8)
• 61.3 exceeded 5000ppm going upto 39900ppm
• Red and Yellow colours had most, white least

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Discussion

• Lead is added to paints for pigment and corrosion
  resistance
• It is totally replaceable
• High cause of exposure to children through eating
  paint chips, dust accumulation and products
• Paint has widespread used across products.

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Recommendations

• The present studies clearly demonstrates that PVC
  toys in India do contain lead and cadmium. Some
  even have very high concentrations.
• Paints are one source of lead
• Concerns about high leachability of heavy metals
  and other chemicals from PVC safer materials
  and paints needed for toys.
• No limit is safe limit, toys must be free of any
  toxic contents. No amount of lead or cadmium be
  allowed in toys.
• Issues of total combined chemical and HM
  exposures to children from toys needs to be
  addressed.
• The entire issue of standards needs to be
  re-visited. Standards need to be made compulsory
  in order to make toy manufacturers strictly
  adhere to it.