TOYS R US REACTS TO GREENPEACE DEMANDS BUT MOST SOFT PVC TOYS ARE STILL ON SALE

18 November 1998

Amsterdam -- Greenpeace welcomed the announcement from major toy retailer Toys R Us of a worldwide withdrawal of 'all direct-to-mouth products for infant use... such as teethers, rattles and pacifiers', containing the hazardous additives phthalates, used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC), but warned parents that other potentially hazardous toys, such as squeezy toys, will still be on sale.

Greenpeace campaigner Madeleine Cobbing described the Toys R Us decision, announced in the United States at the weekend, as a vindication of Greenpeace's year long campaign against PVC products for infants, but warned that the majority of soft PVC toys will not be affected.

'Toys R Us have finally taken a baby step by recognising this problem - but they will still be exposing their young customers to the hazards of soft PVC', said Cobbing. 'Every parent knows that young children are just as likely to chew on a PVC teletubby as they are on a teether'.

The Toys R Us initiative only seems to cover products such as teethers and rattles, designed to be put into the mouth, but doesn't seem to take into account all the other toys made of soft PVC which are not originally designed to be chewed on.

As well as calling for the removal of all soft PVC toys for children under three, Greenpeace warned that it would be monitoring the implementation of Toys R Us commitment carefully. Last year, Toys R Us committed to remove all soft PVC toys from the shelves in both Austria and the Netherlands, and then backtracked on this commitment.

On Monday, following restrictions on the use of hazardous additives in soft PVC toys in several European countries, Health Canada also advised parents to dispose of teethers and rattlers made of soft PVC. Canadian Government inspectors will be visiting retail outlets throughout Canada to 'identify and remove any potentially harmful product from store shelves immediately'.

In September last year, Greenpeace released an international study on soft PVC infants toys which found that products such as baby teethers may contain up to half their weight in phthalates. The chemicals are known to cause cancer, kidney, liver and reproductive abnormalities in laboratory animals. PVC is the only plastic which requires large quantities of additives, including phthalate softeners and stabilisers such as lead and cadmium. Alternatives to PVC are readily available.

The toy manufacturing companies Lego, Brio and Rubbermaid Inc (Little Tikes) have already adopted PVC-free policies. In the last week, a number of US toy manufacturers announced phase-outs of the phthalate additives in teething toys, including Safety First, the First Years Inc. and Gerber Products.

'Parents should not be fooled by these half measures. Only a phase out of PVC itself will stop chemical additives from leaking out of PVC into children's mouths', said Cobbing. 'A phthalate phase out could simply lead to the replacement of one hazardous additive with another.'

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Madeleine Cobbing, Greenpeace International, +44 1453 753 988
- Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications, +31-20 524 9546
Please visit Greenpeace International's PVC Toys website: http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/pvctoys/index.html