Excerpts from the Greenpeace publication "Children's Toys made of Plasticized PVC,"1997 Summary
Summary
In November 1997, Greenpeace Germany commissioned two independent laboratories (Kaiser & Woldmann, Hamburg, and Fechter of Berlin) to investigate the amount of plasticizers released from 23 children's toys made of soft PVC intended for babies and small children under three years of age. The toys tested were made by several different manufacturers and purchased at random from different retailers, with the majority from Toys ‘R’ Us (Table 1).
Twelve out of 23 samples analyzed showed phthalate migration with levels that exceeded the German guidelines up to seven fold. Seven of these were made by Mattel, one by Novatex, one by Fisher-Price, two by Safety 1st and one by Tyco.
Furthermore, given the European Union’s (EU) temporary tolerable daily intake limit for phthalates of 0.03 mg/kg body weight, a one year old baby, weighing 10 kg and playing with the toys analyzed, would exceed 13 to 33 times the EU guideline.
Because the toy industry is a global one, it is expected that toys purchased in Germany are available on the market in many countries and are therefore exposing a significant number of children to levels of phthalates that are considered unacceptable.
Methodology
The samples were prepared using guidelines given by the German Federal Institute of Consumer Health Protection and Veterinary Medicine (BgVV) recommendation XLVII by submerging them in deionised water heated to a temperature of 40 °C. The subsequent measurements were made after one hour and 24 hours of aqueous contact.
Remark: the BgVV prescribes the measurement of migration after 24 hours for teething rings only. However, Greenpeace had all the other objects examined after one day of testing as we assume that children also keep other objects in their mouth, apart from teething rings, for longer periods.
The substances which migrated into the water were then extracted with dichloromethane (Ch2Cl2) and determined using GC-MSD (gas chromatography / mass spectography). In addition, with a number of samples the total organic carbon (TOC) migration was also measured. For this purpose 5 ml of the aqueous solution were acidified with phosphoric acid, concentrated to a small volume, burned, and the total carbon determined using infrared spectroscopy. Experience shows that by far the greatest portion of the mass of migrated substances from plasticized PVC products are phthalates, i.e. the TOC value is in this case identical to the total quantity of phthalates. The migration quantities, measured in milligrams per sample, were normed to milligrams per square decimetre (mg/dm2) in accordance with BgVV.
Results
Twelve of the 23 samples analyzed showed phthalate releases (Table 2).
After only one hour of contact with the solvent, the Winnie the Pooh’s Piglet [Mattel/Kaufhof] showed a phthalate migration of 14 mg/dm2 (total DINP). This level exceeds the level for total organics of 3 mg/dm2 recommended by the BgVV by a factor of almost 5. The Saugfußrassel-Tiger [Mattel/Karstadt] also showed a very high level (10 mg/dm2) of DINP after the same time.
After one day of contact with the solvent, the migration in eleven of the twelve samples exceeded this value.
Particularly worrying was the soft squeaky ball [Quietschball, Mattel/Karstadt], which, with 22 mg/dm2 DEHP, exceeded the BgVV limits by a factor of seven. In fact, DEHP is no longer to be used in toys because of it is a suspected carcinogen, and DINP is used as a substitute.
Equally disturbing were the results for the two teethers from Soft'n Comfy Fingers and Toes [Safety 1st/Toys 'R' Us], which exceeded the recommended level for total organics by a factor of almost 5 and 6 respectively, and were four to five times higher than those measured in the Netherlands.
The daily intake of phthalates from these products would thus lie at around 5 to 10 milligrams of phthalate per day over a period of use of four months. A child of one year of age weighing ten kilograms would thus with this alone exceed the daily level of 0.03 mg/kg body weight as recommended by the EU by a factor of between thirteen and thirty-three.
Furthermore, with levels for migrated substances of between 8 and 16 mg/dm2 within 24 hours, the products Duck [Quietsch-Ente,Novatex], Squeeze & Squirt Pals [Tyco], Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger [Mattel] and Play Family [Fisher-Price], all from Toys 'R' Us, exceeded the BgVV recommended level by a factor of between 3 and 5.
It should be pointed out that the t-TDI is already largely exceeded by the other "day-to-day" contamination pathways.
For some of the toys tested it was found that aromatic substance had been added. Thus the GC-MS in Winnie the Pooh’s Piglet and Saugfußrassel-Tiger revealed the presence of ethyl vanillin. In view of the fact that these products also include those with the highest phthalate migration levels, it is particularly irresponsible of the manufacturers to use flavouring substances to further increase, either deliberately or due to negligence, the intensity with which small children suck on toys.
One of the toys tested, Riesenperlen from Fisher-Price, showed lead contamination of 420 mg/kg. This contradicts the declaration by the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI), that lead is no longer in any toys.
Table 1: List of Toys Tested for Phthalate Migration
| name of toy | where purchased | manufacturer (made in) | detailed description |
| Riesenperlen | Karstadt | Fisher-Price (USA) | Snap Lock Beads (soft) |
| Wasserspaß Freund | Karstadt | MATTEL (China) | Disney Baby Donald (soft), boat (hard) |
| Saugfußrassel Tiger (2 samples) | Karstadt | MATTEL (China) | tiger with suction feet (soft) |
| Greif- +Quietschball | Karstadt | MATTEL (China) | squeaky ball (soft) |
| Rassel-Weintraube | Karstadt | chicco (China) | teething ring (soft, hard) |
| Baby's 1. Stehaufmännchen (Bob Bear) | Kaufhof | manufactured for Kaufhof & Horten | bear (soft) on hemisphere (hard) |
| Baby's Softblocks (Bob the Bear) | Kaufhof | manufactured for Kaufhof & Horten | 4 dice with coloured patterns, soft filling |
| Rub-a-Dub Ernie | Kaufhof | TYCO (China) | Ernie (Sesame St., soft) |
| Winnie the Pooh, Quietsch-Freunde | Kaufhof | MATTEL (China) | pig with giant carrot (soft) |
| Squeeze & Squirt Pals | Toys 'R'Us | TYCO (China) | Ernie (soft), boat (hard) |
| Roly Poly Pals
(Sesame Street) |
Toys 'R'Us | TYCO (China) | 4 small figures (soft) |
| Play Family | Toys 'R'Us | Fisher-Price (China) | 3 figures (soft) |
| Nimm mich mit Pluto | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | Pluto (head soft, body hard) |
| Winnie the Pooh | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | bear in pot (soft) |
| Winnie the Pooh's Tigger | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | tiger in pot (soft) |
| Winnie the Pooh's Piglet | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | pig in pot (soft) |
| Winnie the Pooh Quietsch-Freunde | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | tiger (soft) |
| Quietsch-Freunde | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | Disney Daisy (soft) |
| Bi-Ba-Baumelfreunde | Toys 'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | 3 figures (soft) on a ring (hard) |
| Quietsch-Ente Duck (BABY-NOVA) | Toys 'R'Us | NOVATEX GmbH | duck (soft) |
| Soft n' Comfy Fingers and Toes (2 samples) | Toys 'R'Us | Safety 1st (China) | 2 teethers (hand and foot, soft) |
Table 2: Plasticizer migration from children's toys on the German market
|
|
and Remarks |
|||||
| Product name | where bought | manufacturer (made in) | closer description of product |
|
|
|
| Winnie the Pooh's Piglet | Kaufhof | MATTEL (China) | pig with giant carrot (soft) | 14 DINP | (not measured) | GC-MS / aromatic substances |
| Saugfußrassel Tiger (2 samples) |
Karstadt | MATTEL (China) | tiger with suction feet (soft) | 10,0 DINP 0,85 |
6,29 1,9 DINP |
GC-MS Aromastoffe! TOC GC-MS |
| Greif- +Quietschball | Karstadt | MATTEL (China) | squeaky ball (soft) | 22 DEHP | GC-MS | |
| Soft'n Comfy Fingers and Toes | Toys'R'Us | Safety 1st (China) | 2 teething rings (soft) hand and foot | 15,55
18,45 |
TOC TOC |
|
| Quietsch-Ente Duck (BABY NOVA) | Toys'R'Us | Novatex GmbH | duck (soft) | 1,89 | 15,73 | TOC |
| Squeeze & Squirt Pals | Toys'R'Us | TYCO (China) | Ernie (soft), boat (hard) | 0,68 | 11,52 0,74 DINP |
TOC GC-MS |
| Winnie the Pooh's Tigger |
Toys'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | tiger (soft) | 1,26 | 10,62 | TOC |
| Play Family | Toys'R'Us | Fisher-Price (China) | 3 figures (soft) | 1,03 | 8,55 | TOC |
| Quietsch-Freunde | Toys'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | Disney Daisie (soft) | 4,0 DEHP | GC-MS | |
| Winnie the Pool | Toys'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | bear in pot (soft) | 0,85 | 4,58 | TOC |
| nimm mich mit Pluto | Toys'R'Us | MATTEL (China) | Pluto (head soft, body hard) | 0,28 | 2,68 | TOC |
| Baby's erste Bausteine | Toys'R'Us | Fisher-Price (England) | drum (hard), building blocks (relatively hard) | 0,08 | 0,68 | TOC no PVC! |
Annex 1
German Guidelines
Non-binding recommendation by the BgVV: "The share of migrating volatile substances, apart from water, should not exceed 3.0 mg/dm2."
Annex 2
European Union Limit Values
tolerable daily intake (TDI) 0.025 mg/kg/day for DEHP
temporary tolerable daily intake (t-TDI) 0.03 mg/kg/day DINP and 0.05 mg/kg/day for DBP or DIDP.