Phthalates in Children’s Toys

This weeks new law banning the use of phthalates in children’s toys is being hailed as a victory for children’s health. Phthalates is a chemical used to make plastic toys soft and flexible. [e.g., baby rattles, pacifiers]

Remember “Stretch Armstrong?”

The issue with phthalates is that the chemical leaches out of the toys and enters our children’s bodies.

Unfortunately the alternative chemicals that will replace phthalate are not well known either and may also potentially be unsafe as well.

Toy companies are not required to disclose which chemicals they use to construct their toys.

“There are 80,000 chemicals in commerce,” says California Environmental Protection Agency toxicologist Stephen Dizio. “We know something about toxicity of about 400 of them. That really means that things come and go in the marketplace that you have no idea what will happen.”