A test made by the International POPs Eliminations Network (IPEN) and the EcoWaste Coalition, Inc. found toxic metals in several children’s toys here.
Dr. Joseph DiGangi, IPEN senior science and policy adviser, said 26 percent of the 135 tested local and imported children’s products contained at least one toxic metal beyond the US regulatory limit.
In his presentation in a public forum Tuesday, DiGangi said the toy testing which was conducted on July 24-25 in the city intended to measure toxic metals in toys with focus on chemicals such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury.
He said the study that used the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer found out that 22 or 16% of the samples contained lead which was “almost 20 times higher than the US regulatory limit.”
The 30-second measurements of the XRF for each sample also tested 21 products or 16% from the 135 toys positive of more than one toxic metal, which increased “the potential harm from multiple exposures,” he reported.
DiGangi stated that the toy products containing toxic metals included a variety of dolls, puzzle rubber mats, cars, picnic tea set, action hero figures, fingernails with paint, animals, set of food/vegetables, sports and musical instrument toys.
He said that the “disturbing one was an infant milk bottle toy “which contained high levels of mercury and was designed to contain candy.”
The sample toys were bought from public markets, ukay-ukay stalls and department stores such as Robinsons, Toy Kingdom and NCCC Mall, he bared.
DiGangi said that based from the study, they could not correlate the products and the location they were bought from, same as they could not find correlation between the products and their prices and brands. “It does not necessarily follow that expensive toys are safe,” he added.
“It is very difficult to protect the children. Wherever they go, there could be toxic found,” DiGangi said.
He said that the “findings raised safety concerns for exposure in children and highlight the need for protective national regulatory policies.”
“We need to raise special concern when it comes to children,” he stated adding that with the exploration behavior of children, they are more vulnerable to the harmful impact of these toxic products.
Davao was the last stop of toy testing conducted by IPEN and EcoWaste Coalition nationwide that aimed to find out the state of toys in the country.
The Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), a member of the EcoWaste Coalition, sponsored the public forum on July 26 at Lispher Inn, this city. [PIA 11/Carina L. Cayon]
