Nursery World - Chemicals that cause concern

By Mary Taylor, safer chemicals campaigner at Friends of the Earth No doubt the children in your care like to play with toys they put in their mouths and maybe you've bought some soft plastic ones the babies like to chew on. But then you find out that some toys are made from a form of PVC made with chemicals called phthalates (pronounced 'thallates').

No doubt the children in your care like to play with toys they put in their mouths and maybe you've bought some soft plastic ones the babies like to chew on. But then you find out that some toys are made from a form of PVC made with chemicals called phthalates (pronounced 'thallates').

You find out that some of these chemicals can leak out imperceptibly and are suspected of having subtle but harmful effects on our reproductive systems. You find out that phthalates have been detected in humans - in the blood and even in breast milk.

Would you throw the toys out? Or would you argue with the manufacturers for seven years about what quantity of phthalates might be acceptable? I know what I would do, but getting protection through EU laws took a seven-year argument.

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