ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 19 -- It's that time of year again -- toy season.

And along with the bustle of holiday toy shopping comes the perennial burst of news releases, some of them quite alarmist, warning consumers of certain toy safety hazards. We expect that publicity about phthalates -- the plasticizer used to make vinyl toys soft and pliable -- may be incomplete, misleading or even flatly wrong. And that is not only an industry opinion. The low risk posed by the phthalates in toys is affirmed by scientific reports issued earlier this year by U.S. and European regulatory agencies.

Here is recent reporting about phthalates and vinyl toys:

CPSC ruling states: "No demonstrated health risk from vinyl toys containing DINP."

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in February 2003 voted unanimously to deny an activist petition to ban vinyl from products for children age five and under. In doing so, the CPSC accepted the conclusions of its staff stating that there is "no demonstrated health risk" from vinyl toys containing DINP, which is the primary plasticizer used in toys. The CPSC's final decision on this issue was based on its five-year review of the health effects data for DINP, CPSC studies of how much DINP migrates out of vinyl toys, and a new study on the mouthing habits of children. The CPSC staff analysis showed that even children who mouth toys the most (the 95th percentile) would ingest DINP at levels far below the acceptable daily intake level. The CPSC found that exposure to DINP would not pose a risk to
children, even if DINP were a component of all toys, rattles and teethers. The Executive Summary of the CPSC study can be found at www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA02/brief/fiveyearpt1.PDF (pdf file)

EU Risk Assessment on DINP states: "Exposures from consumer products, including toys, are unlikely to pose a risk to adults, infants or newborns."

The European Union (EU) concluded in its final risk assessment report, published in August 2003, that no risk reduction measures are necessary for any current use of DINP because of the large margin between potential effect levels and the everyday exposure to consumers. The EU risk assessment found that exposures from consumer products, including toys, are "unlikely to pose a risk to adults, infants or newborns." The full report may be found at http://www.dinp-facts.com, the DINP Information Centre on the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates web site.

CDC Biomonitoring Study states: "Studies show indicators of DINP exposure to be below detection limits for adults and infants."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2003 published a report on measurements of environmental chemicals in human tissues and fluids. Median exposures to phthalates, as derived from the CDC data, are well below the safety levels established by government regulatory agencies -- levels that already have a built-in safety factor of 100 to 1,000. Exposure to DINP, the primary plasticizer used in toys, was below the limit of detection in 90% of the 2,500 subjects tested by the CDC. A separate study of infants found indicators of DINP exposure to be below detection limits (Brock et al., 2002)(1). The full CDC report can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport.

For more information about phthalates, please visit www.phthalates.org

(1) J. W. Brock, S. P. Caudill, M. J. Silva, L. L. Needham, E. D. Hilborn, Phthalate Monoesters Levels in the Urine of Young Children, Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 68(3):309-314 (2002).