Florence, Italy. Some toys that are designed to exercise the mind may contain toxic chemicals from recyled electronic waste, which can damage the central nervous system and reduce children’s intellectual capacity.
IPEN (a global civil society network promoting safe chemicals policies and practices) and Arnika (an environmental organization in the Czech Republic) aired this observation following the announcement of the results of a global survey on toxic chemicals in brain toys at a scientific conference on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Florence, Italy.
New Delhi, India: Triclosan, a chemical having endocrine properties has been in use in various products including personal care, health care, sports items and household items. The varied applications of Triclosan are attributed to its anti-bacterial properties and hence, can also be used as a preservative. It is commonly used in hand washes, soaps, dish washing soaps, cosmetics, shampoos, deodorants, mouthwashes and toothpastes.
New Delhi, 09 May 2016 : Unknowingly you could be exposing your babies to some of the most toxic chemicals that are part of our everyday life and the exposure to chemicals is progressively growing, some of these chemicals are recognized as highly toxic and can interfere with our body’s hormonal system and seriously impact normal human growth. These chemicals are classified as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and are used in manufacturing of various products of everyday use.
The Arnika Association examined hundreds of pieces of printed china dishes, within the framework of its campaign Let's Eat Toxics Free. A vast majority of them, including goods for children, contained high lead concentration in the colour printing. A very alarming fact is that concentrations were often found in the order of tens of thousands ppm (parts per million) of lead.
24 May 2016, Quezon City. A waste and pollution watchdog group advised the public to steer clear of school supplies containing cancer-causing and endocrine disrupting chemicals as consumers take advantage of “back-to-school” promotional sales.
Worried about everyday exposure of infants and children to potential chemicals of concern, IPEN Participating Organization WECF has released a survey on 341 baby cosmetics – cleansing milks, lotions, shampoos, bath products, ointments, baby wipes, cleansing waters, eaux de toilettes, sun protection products – sold on the French market in pharmacies, parapharmacies, supermarkets and organic shops. WECF’s experts assessed the products’ ingredients based on the labels. Based on an analysis of existing scientific literature and opinions by European Union (Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety - SCCS) and French (National Agency for the Safety of Medical and cosmetic products - ANSM) risk assessment agencies, the experts classified the ingredients or families of ingredients used in the 341 products in three categories from “high risk” to “moderate risk” and “low or not identified risk”.
IPEN’s Citizens’ Report details the implementation of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) by IPEN Participating Organizations between 2012 and 2015. More than 120 IPEN Participating Organizations actively executed more than 500 activities in 65 countries in all UN regions to work towards implementing all five objectives of the SAICM Overarching Policy Strategy and 228 of the 299 items in the Global Plan of Action.
Up until now brand owners and other companies in the textile sector had to invest a lot of money in chemical expertise in order to produce toxic free products, an investment that can be hard to motivate, especially for SMEs and start-ups.
