As part of Greenpeace's Play Safe campaign concerning the hazards of soft PVC toys for small children, a random survey was conducted to see whether these products are still being sold in European countries, despite numerous government warnings and potential legal restrictions on soft PVC toys.

Toys were purchased in 10 European Union countries (1) by staff in the relevant Greenpeace offices. Up to 16 toys were bought per country, specifically soft PVC toys for children aged 3 and under, and especially toys designed as teethers or to be chewed.

What we found was that there are major differences in the availability of soft PVC baby toys between European countries. It appears that many manufacturers are unscrupulous, still selling soft PVC toys in countries where health authorities have asked that these products be removed from the shelves.

Retailers, on the other hand, are partly at the mercy of the manufacturers since some soft PVC toys are not labelled and can be difficult to distinguish from other soft plastics, although some retailers are selling toys clearly marked as vinyl, despite making previous committments to remove these from the shelves.

What the Greenpeace survey shows, however, is that all children in EU countries are not receiving equal protection from the hazards posed by soft PVC toys. Parents are left worrying about whether the toys they buy are safe.

The main findings of the survey include:

* No soft PVC baby toys are available at all in Denmark.

* Only a few PVC toys are available in Austria, and these were found only in Toys R Us.

* PVC toys are widely available in the UK, Spain and Greece, where no government statements have been issued calling on retailers or manufacturers to voluntarily withdraw these products, although in Spain soft PVC toys from the major manufacturers Mattel and Chicco are not easily avaialble.

* Even in countries where the governments have issued warnings to manufacturers, retailers, licensors and importers about the potential hazards of soft PVC toys and requested these products be removed from store shelves, such as in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy, PVC toys are still being sold, mostly by the major retailer Toys R Us. In Germany, these toys are not widely available other than in Toys R Us. In the Netherlands, where some retailers, including Toys R Us have promised to remove PVC toys, they are still widely available; the same is true in Sweden although they are less common.

* Some companies such as Chicco, Shelcore and Fisher Price/Mattel manufacture similar products both in PVC and in alternative materials.

* The Italian company Chicco markets a wide variety of PVC teethers and several made from different materials as well. The availability of these products varies between the EU countries. For example, soft PVC teethers by Chicco were found in Sweden and Greece but in Spain, the teethers were made from alternative plastics and fabric.

* Soft PVC toys by Mattel are widely available in most countries, except for Denmark and Spain, even in countries where governments have requested retailers to remove them from the shelves, such as Germany and the Netherlands.

The survey exemplifies the need for EU-wide restrictions on soft PVC toys in order protect all children from the hazards posed by these products. Parents and consumers should not be left worrying about whether the products they choose pose a health threat to children.

(1) Toys were purchased in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

On December 16, 1997 Austrian Minister of Consumer Affairs Barbara Prammer issued a draft regulation to ban the sale of certain plastic toys containing plasticizers which are made for sucking and chewing or are likely to be sucked or chewed by children under 3 years old. Prammer also stated that she will work for a similar regulation at the EU level. Environment Minister Martin Bartenstein backs Mrs. Prammer's initiative: Bartenstein wrote a letter to Commissioner Bangemann; in which he asked him to start the EU process on this matter (based on 76/769/EWG).

This draft legal ban has been notified to the EU; if there are no objections it will be passed at the end of March 1998 and will come into force at the end of June 1998 . "PVC in children's toys is an undesirable risk which could be avoided quickly and easily by using other materials."

Currently only very few PVC infant toys can be found in Austrian retailers any more as many shops have eliminated them during the last few months because of the public debate and the Ministers proposed ban. Toys R Us is the only big retailer at which soft PVC baby toys can still be bought. Of the eight toys bought five were PVC and all of these were bought at Toys R Us. Three other retailers, the drug store chains "dm" , "Schlecker" and "BIPA" sold no PVC toys. Two big chain stores, "Interspar" and "Kastner & Oehler" also passed policies which made their toys selection free of soft pvc baby toys.

On October 3, 1997 - Marcel Colla, Belgian Minister of Public Health urged toy retailers to take immediate voluntary measures to cease the marketing of soft PVC toys designed to be chewed by young children. FEDIS, the Belgian association of distribution sectors, replied on October 16 that they will follow the recommendations.

In December 1997 the Belgian government division "Kind en Gezin" (Child and Family), which oversees the health and safety of 70,000 children in public and private day care centers and kindergartens in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, is providing information to parents, especially new mothers, recommending they not buy soft PVC toys. A letter was sent to the owners and operators of the facilities, urging them to "be critical when buying toys and choose alternatives, and not soft PVC toys." Lastly, "Child and Family" called on the toy industry to ban PVC from their production lines. The French equivalent organization, O.N.E. did the same in the French speaking part of Belgium, demanding that soft PVC toys be kept out of reach of children.

Only one retailer, Toys R Us, was surveyed. Eight toys were bought in total, all of them infant toys for 3 months upwards; of these five were made of PVC. The non PVC toys included a teether made by Shelcore, who also made PVC bath toys.

On April 18, 1997 the Danish EPA recommended that "three teething rings be withdrawn from the Danish market" after Denmark's Environmental Investigations found that these PVC teething rings "liberated an extent of phthalates which the EPA regards as unacceptable for babies." The study found quantities of phthalates leaching from the toys to exceed allowable limits, set by the EU for food, by up to 40 times. "It is unacceptable that our children are exposed to chemicals in such quantities - especially when they are so young," said research chief Lars Carlsen from Denmark's Environmental Research Institute (NERI).

On November 27, 1997 Svend Auken, Danish Minister for the Environment and Energy asked the Danish EPA to work out a proposal for a ban on phthalate-containing toys for small children. He also asked the EU to ban hazardous substances in toys. More recently the Danish Ministry for the Environment and Energy wrote to EU Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann (February 11 1998), concerning the more general question of hazardous substances in children’s toys, saying ‘basically, it is not acceptable that toys for children contain harmful substances’, and requesting a meeting between Danish Minister for the Environment and Energy, Svend Auken, Martin Bangemann and Emma Bonino, Commissioner for Consumer Policy yourself.

Nine toys were bought at three retailers, Toys R Us/Faetter BR, Super Brugsen and Lege-kaeden (Play Group). : Legekaeden and TOYS R US /Faetter BR account for 88% of toy sales within actual toy stores. FDB/Super Brugsen is not included in this statistic, as it is a food retailer. All toys bought were for infants or under threes, none of them from the major manufacturers; no PVC toys were found. No soft PVC baby toys from Mattel or the other major companies were found.

On December 12, 1997 the German Federal Institute for the Protection of Consumer Health and Veterinary Medicine, the BgVV, issued a statement which called on toy manufacturers to take steps to "markedly reduce the burden of softeners or to stop using them altogether in toys for small children." It also called on the industry "as a matter of responsibility, to see that these products do not get on the market." The BgVV further recommended that "parents not buy toys made of soft PVC for children up to three years of age, since it cannot be said with certainty that these products are safe."

Werner Siebenpfeiffer, the Head of the German Department for Consumer Medicine and Vetinerary Protection wrote to Greenpeace Germany on January 15 1998 saying; ‘should it not prove possible to achieve European regulation of phthalates in baby toys made of soft PVC, the Federal Ministry of Health will look into whether independent regulations should be drawn up for the area of the Federal Republic of Germany.’

Five toys were bought in total, all at Toys R Us. All were made of PVC, for children under 3 and manufactured by the major companies Mattel, Chicco and Shelcore. PVC is less readily available in other retailers; although it is possible to buy soft bath toys, there are no teethers available.

After the Italian toy company Chicco suspended the sales of three PVC teething rings in Spain "in the strict spirit of responsibility", and following a Greenpeace Press Release asking toy companies to withdraw soft PVC toys, on May 27-28, 1997 - Chicco withdrew the same teethers from the Greek market. There was no reaction from the Greek Government.

16 toys were bought from the three biggest toy retailers in Greece, Zaxarias, Jumbo Babyland and Moustakas. 14 of the toys bought were made of PVC and all but 3 were for children of 3 and under. The manufacturers included Mattel, Hasbro, Chicco and Safety 1^st.

In May the Italian toy company Chicco suspended the sales of three PVC teething rings in Spain "in the strict spirit of responsibility" withdrawing the same teethers from the Italian and Greek markets later that month. In November, Chicco put back soft PVC toys previously removed from the shelves in Italy, defending their decision using the Italian National Health Institute labs data showing low level leaching of phthalates from toys.

In December, well known Italian toy company Giochi Preziosi wrote to Greenpeace Italy stating that they will not include soft PVC toys for children under three in their catalogue for 1998 and that they will work on substitution for other applications of PVC. IKEA and Lego also joined the campaign against PVC in Italy.

On December 19, 1997, following a meeting to discuss PVC toys, Rosi Bindi, the Italian Minister of Health, asked the National Health Institute to start a monitoring program to determine the possible health risks from these toys and in the meantime "will ask Italian toy producers to use alternative materials. Finally, more binding measures to deal with the presence of phthalates in products for children under three cannot be excluded." The Minister has since written to Toy Manufacturers and the Chemical Industry, however, the promise for more binding measures is not repeated in this letter, which simply asks for further information on alternative plasticisers.

The Assessor of Rome municipality is sending a letter to directrors of 147 nursery schools and 310 entrance classes asking them not to purchase any PVC toys in order to avoid unneccessary health risks. This decision follows a vote at the Provincial Congress of Modena (northern Italy) where it was agreed to invite all the schools not to purchase PVC toys.

Four products were bought from an Italian retailer. All of them were teethers and all of them were made from a plastic other than PVC. In addition, a quick telephone survey was done of 20 Toys R Us shops to see whether soft PVC toys by Mattel were available; of 17 replies all but two still stocked these toys.

On July 3, 1997, the Dutch retail chain Blokker, which also owns Bart Smit Toys and Intertoys, informed Greenpeace Netherlands that "in all future orders we will state that toys intended for children under the age of three may not contain any PVC, and that the use of PVC packaging is not allowed." These retail chains represent almost 50% of the toy market in the Netherlands.

On July 4, 1997, The Dutch entity of Toys R Us stated "to make it fully clear to our suppliers that we are not in favour of the use of PVC in toys and packaging, that is stated as a condition of supply when orders are issued," in a letter to the Executive Director of Greenpeace Netherlands.

Following this, after testing teethers, rattles and toy figurines sold for babies, the Netherlands Ministry of Health found that the Dutch advised total daily intake of DINP would be exceeded by 5 -50% for all babies sucking or chewing on PVC teethers. "Although the phthalate concentration and migration values found do not result in an immediate danger to the health of babies, negative effects cannot be excluded. Exceeding of the total daily intake is undesirable; therefore, the ministry urges major retailers to prevent babies from being exposed to phthalates in toys."

Other Dutch retailers that have taken action are Vendex (Vroom and Dreesman) who demanded from their suppliers on July 15 that all toys must be PVC-free, and de Bijenkorf who removed known PVC toys from their shelves on August 6. On July 31 toy manufacturer Ravensburger stopped the import of several PVC SEGA (Miffy) products into the Netherlands.

In November the Dutch Consumer Agency issued a press release confirming that some soft PVC toys are still on the shelves.

Despite numerous promises to withdraw soft PVC toys for infants, these products are still widely available on some retailers shelves in the Netherlands. Three retailers were surveyed; Toys R Us, Intertoys (which is owned by Blokker) and Blokker. Fifteen products were bought, all of them at least partly made of PVC and all of them were for children under three. The manufacturers were Mattel and its subsiduary Tyco, Chicco, and Hasbro.

On May 23, 1997, following the Danish Governments tests, the Italian toy company Chicco suspended the sales of three PVC teething rings in Spain "in the strict spirit of responsibility."

In October 1997 - The retailer Imaginarium, with toy shops in Spain and Portugal, decided to stop selling PVC teethers and rattles.

In December, 1997, Municipalty of Bilbao decided to withdraw all PVC toys from the all the municipaltys’ day nurserys.

On February 5,1998, there was a statement from the Ministry of Health annnouncing the withdrawal of 5 teethers made of soft PVC from the Spanish market, because of the leaching of phthalates above the legal limit.

Toys were bought in three of the most popular shops, toy retailer Toys R Us, El Corte Ingles, a big nationwide department store and the hypermarket Alcampo.

Eight products for children under 3 were bought, seven of which were PVC, one, a Chicco teether, was an alternative soft plastic. Safety 1^st, The first Years & Ctw Sesame Street were only found in Toys R Us.

In all three shops PVC was in the minority of Chicco products, with alternative rattles & teethers made of 80% cotton and 20% polyester available. In El Corte Inglés an alternative rubber teether is available. No Mattel or Disney baby toys for children under 3 were found in any of the three shops.

On May 27, 1997, toy manufacturer BRIO Leksaker stated that it would no longer distribute certain Chicco teethers in Sweden and the Swedish superstore chain KF announced that it had stopped selling soft PVC toys intended for children under the age of three. Approximately 50 toys were removed from its toy selection.

Following this, on May 28 - Swedish Minister of the Environment Anna Lindh issued a press release stating "the PVC industry has had a very long time to replace dangerous additives. It has apparently not been possible. It is therefore the PVC industry's own fault that the PVC plastic is not accepted any longer."

A total of fifteen products were bought from three retailers; six of these were made of PVC. The retailer Ahlens said that they have taken all PVC toys for small children off the shelves, but cannot guarantee that no PVC toys at all are on the shelves. In fact two products, one manufactured by Mattel and one by Ahlens themselves, were made of PVC. The retailer Stor & Liten (KF) who guarantee that their toys for children up to 3 do not contain PVC, sold PVC products by Mattel, Shelcore and Toyman. The third retailer Toy Skoi AB said they have no idea whether their toys contain PVC or not; one product, a teether by Chicco, was made of PVC.

The British Government has made no recommendations to retailers or manufacturers to date. ‘The Department of Health has advised that, in the light of the most recent research, phthalates in toys are unlikely to pose health risks to children provided that exposure does not exceed the relevant Tolerable Daily Intake levels set by the EU ‘s independent Scientific Committee on Food’. Nigel Griffiths, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Competition and Consumer Affairs says ‘I am most concerned to ensure that our children are not exposed to dangerous toys. I therefore want ot see the work on developing a suitable and reliable migration test for phthalates brought to a speedy conclusion..’.

The retailer Boots the Chemist has stated in a letter to Greenpeace (15 October 1997) that they do not supply teethers made of PVC, as has the chemist Superdrug (letter 7 August 1996. Mothercare, a well known supplier of baby products recognises that PVC can contain harmful additives and that toys containing PVC are tested.

A total of 15 toys were bought from three well known retailers, two toy specialists - Toys R Us and the Early Learning Centre and one household products retailer Woolworths. 14 of the toys were PVC, one, a soft and hard teether from the Early Learning Centre was an alternative plastic. The majority of products were by Mattel and Fisher Price/Mattel, others included Hasbro, Tomy (Safety 1^st) and the First Years, with UK companies Chad Valley and Martin Yaffe.