Samantha Rosenberg eyed the toy plastic cellphone
that her 9-month-old daughter has chewed so much, the color is fading.
She wondered if the shiny plaything, and others that fill her home,
are endangering Addison's health.
Congress this week approved a ban on a family of chemicals widely
used in soft plastic toys and other baby products. Health advocates
say the compounds, known as phthalates, have been linked to kidney
and liver cancer and to reproductive disorders in fetuses and infants,
especially boys.
Toymakers and the chemical industry ran an expensive lobbying campaign
trying to block the legislation, arguing that phthalates have been
used commercially since the 1950s, that they are safe and that the
ban is an overreaction.
Rosenberg and other consumers are not sure what to think.
"Am I being neurotic, or is it really not safe?" Rosenberg, a 30-year-old
District resident, said about the toy cellphone. "It just gets compounded,
because everything is plastic and made in China. You end up worrying
about lead paint, plastics, all these things our parents never worried
about."
Her questions are echoed by millions of parents who feel overwhelmed
by conflicting information and are struggling to strike the right
balance. For those discussing toy safety at neighborhood playgrounds,
in Internet chat rooms and in the toy aisles of big-box stores,
every plastic geegaw has grown suspect.
"In the past six months, I started freaking out about the BPA stuff and
plastic toys," said Sherri Bohinc, a 32-year-old mother of two young
children who lives in Bethesda, referring to health concerns raised about
bisphenol A, another additive used in plastic. "In Target, I'll ask other
moms shopping in the same aisles what they think about a toy. I've run into
some really paranoid moms, and then I run into people who are like, 'Eh,
don't pay attention.' "
Kara Dillon, 29, a mother of two in Surprise, Ariz., threw out baby bottles
that contained BPA and replaced them with BPA-free bottles. Now the
phthalates ban leaves her wondering whether to toss her children's soft
plastic toys, too.
"It's really hard as a mom to know what to do," Dillon said. "As consumers,
we're buying what's out there, and you just trust the companies --
especially when it comes to things designed especially for babies -- that
they're safe."
The United States is one of the last industrialized nations to outlaw
phthalates in children's products. The European Union has banned
them since 1999. California was the first state to approve a ban;
it takes effect in January. Lawmakers in Washington state and Vermont
have followed suit.
The federal ban will take effect six months after President Bush
signs it, which he is expected to do in the next several weeks.
That means it would not be in place until after the holiday season.
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, and Toys R Us, the largest
toy seller, have said that by January their shelves will be free
of children's products containing BPA and phthalates.
Chemical companies, including ExxonMobil, which manufactures the phthalate
most often found in toys, have argued that banning the compounds could force
toymakers to use substitutes that pose greater risks. But several
alternative chemicals used to make toys for the European market have been
found to be safer than phthalates, said Janet Nudelman of the Breast Cancer
Fund, which pushed for the U.S. ban. Chemical makers say the alternatives
are not as cheap or versatile as phthalates.
It is nearly impossible for consumers to tell whether a children's product
contains phthalates because chemical ingredients are not listed. Some toy
manufacturers do not even know what is in the plastic they buy from
suppliers.
Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and
Families, which lobbied in favor of the phthalates ban, suggested that
parents get rid of soft, squeezable plastic teethers, rattles and other toys
and wait until the ban takes effect before buying replacements.
"Don't keep them around your house for visiting friends with children, or to
gather dust in your child's room," she said. "And don't give them as
hand-me-downs to relatives or charities."
Zuckerman stressed that she was referring to soft plastic toys, such as
plastic books, rubber ducks and teething toys.
She also cautioned that many shampoos and lotions for babies and children
contain phthalates. Personal care products are not covered by the ban
because the legislation applies to the Consumer Product Safety Commission,
which does not have jurisdiction over cosmetics, shampoos and lotions.
Zuckerman said the next goal for health advocates is to bar phthalates from
cosmetics, perfumes and products that children and adults slather on their
skin, which readily absorbs the chemicals.
"Everybody in Congress is now well aware that phthalates are ubiquitous and
exposure is coming from many different products," Zuckerman said. "And
children's toys are probably not the main culprit. Clearly, the next step is
personal care products."
Sara LaFountain, a 39-year-old Rockville mother, has four sons and a
7-month-old daughter, Diane. LaFountain got rid of all the plastic toys and
bottles that belonged to Diane's brothers, which she had planned to pass
down to her only girl.
Instead, Diane gets wooden toys and the occasional plastic giraffe
manufactured in Germany that meets European Union safety standards and is
made without phthalates. LaFountain also got rid of plastic sippy cups for
her small children, replacing them with stainless-steel cups. "I try to make
our house as safe as possible," she said.
LaFountain and several other parents interviewed said they felt let down by
the government because they do not think it has been safeguarding children's
health.
"My oldest is 12, so if this had been banned 10 years ago, he wouldn't have
been exposed to as many bad toys," LaFountain said. "I feel upset about
that. But you can't go back in time. You can only go on from here."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103144.html
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