Phthalates get banned
6 Jul 2005
The European Parliament has voted to ban the use of phthalates in toys, citing the fact that the chemicals may be harmful to human health, cause damage to the reproductive system and increase the risks of allergies, asthma and cancer.
The European Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority (487 in favour, 9 against and 10 abstentions) to ban the use of three phthalate plasticisers - di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) - in all children's toys and childcare items.
It will also ban the use of three others - diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and dioctyl phthalate (DNOP) - in toys and childcare items that can be put in the mouth by children.
Although Greenpeace heralded the news as a victory, others were less enthusiastic about the ban.
"Banning a substance (DINP) which has been scientifically risk assessed as safe, thereby forcing manufacturers to use alternatives about which far less is known, does nothing to protect the health of children", said Dr. David Cadogan, Director of the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates (ECPI).
"European plasticiser producers fully support any efforts to protect the safety of children and would never knowingly compromise their health. This is why the industry has spent more than €130 million researching the health and environmental effects of phthalates," he added.
"However, based on a lot of exaggerated and often incorrect claims about alleged adverse health effects from phthalates, politicians have been misled into believing that children's health is being endangered. Their decision to ban DINP in all toys which can be put in the mouth is an entirely political decision."
"We must remember that phthalate plasticisers have been used for nearly 50 years without a single known case of anyone having been harmed as a result and that there are now very comprehensive risk assessments available which show that they can be used safely in a very wide range of applications which continue to improve the quality of our everyday life," concluded Dr. Cadogan.
